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Smith College Fiftieth Anniversary Publications 


The Plantation Overseer 


As Shown in His Letters 


SMITH COLLEGE 
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
PUBLICATIONS 


Sopp1a SMITH AND THE BEGINNINGS OF SMITH 
Cottece, by Elizabeth Deering Hanscom and 
Helen French Greene. Based upon the Narrative 
of John Morton Greene. 


Tue Srupy or Music 1n THE AMERICAN COLLEGE, 
by Roy Dickinson Welch. 


Ben Jonson’s Art: ExizaserHan Lire ann Lit- 
ERATURE AS ReFLecTeD THEREIN, by Esther 
Cloudman Dunn. 


BrBLioGRAPHY OF THE NortH American HemrprTEeRA- 
Heteroptera, by Howard Madison Parshley. 


Tue SALAMANDERS OF THE FAMILY PLETHODONTIDAE, 
a Study in Ecological Evolution, by Emmett 
Reid Dunn. 


Tue PrantratTion Overseer as SHown In His 
Lerrers, by John Spencer Bassett. 


Tue Morpnorocy or Ampuipian Merramorpnosis, 
by Inez Whipple Wilder. 


Tue Suort Story 1n SPAIN IN THE XVII CENTuRY, 
by Caroline B. Bourland. 


Jean-Jacques Rossgeau, Essar p’ INTERPRETATION ~* 
Novuvetie, by Albert Schinz. 


THE 
Southern Plantation 


Overseer 
\ As ‘Revealed in His Letters 


By JOHN SPENCER BASSETT, P2.D., LL.D. 
Professor of AMERICAN History on the SYDENHAM 
CLtarK Parsons FounpDATION in SMITH COLLEGE 


NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 


Printed for SmiTH COLLEGE 


O25 


. YY 


PRE Fone 


LL the letters in this book deal with the affairs of an 


ante-bellum Ss tation. Most of 


AMA nent 


‘were written about the things with which the overseers were 
closely concerned. All of them are taken from_the_Cor- 
respondence of James Knox Polk, president of the United 
States from 1849 to 1853. So far as the editor knows none 
have been published hitherto, and all are preserved in man- 
uscript form in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 
Taken together they constitute a remarkably full and in- 
teresting record of some phases of the life on a cotton plan- 
tation in the old régime. 

The letters of the overseers have been copied with great 
care. It is believed that they are as correctly reproduced as 
1s possible under the circumstances; for where handwriting 


» 1s so grotesquely distorted it is often impossible to be cer- 


tain that it is correctly deciphered. In cases like those be- 


— fore us, where composition as well as spelling mean so much 
* in revealing to the reader the mental qualities of the writer, 


4 
tec 


it 1s highly important that exact reproductions be offered 


to him. The editor dares not claim that no errors of copy- 
Sing have crept in, but he has tried hard to reduce them to 


ater 


143 


‘2 
A 


3 


the lowest number possible. 


Collecting and editing these letters has excited his warm- 


i oS! interest. The good qualities they reveal in their writers _ 
x have won his admiration, which only the exercise of histori- YS 


—i 


cal detachment has enabled him to keep subordinate. In 


& many of the respectable things of life the overseer was less 


= than a full man. In the things that concerned his craft he 


ill 


PREP Ae 


was, in typical cases, all that the situation required, which 
is saying much for any man. 

The editor acknowledges his pleasure in having an op- 
portunity to return for a time to the field in which his earli- 
est efforts in history were made. After residing nearly two 
decades in New England, always a hospitable home for a 
student, he has found a special joy in getting back into the 
history of Southern conditions. Of the South the overseer 
was a veritable son. He was true to its social genius, ex- 
pressing in his letters the views and desires of that portion 
of Southern society from which he was sprung. It is very 
interesting to be able to introduce this man to the public in 
a more faithful attire than he has hitherto been made to 
wear when held up for observation. He was a part of that 
rich Old South which will always command the interest of 
the world and the love of its descendants. 

The work of preparing these letters for publication has 
been lightened for the editor by the assistance of many 
friends; but special interest has been taken in the project 
by President Wm. Allan Neilson, of Smith College, to 
whom I wish at this place to express my thanks for his per- 
sonal sympathy and encouragement. I must also ac- 
knowledge my indebtedness to Messrs. E. D. Beanland, of 
Oxford, Miss., and John A. Bergland, of New Orleans, for 
information about Ephraim Beanland, and to Messrs.C.V. 
Beadles and H. B. Johnson, of Coffeeville, Miss., for infor- 
mation about the Polk plantation. 


Northampton, Mass., 
September 10, 1925. 
Joun Spencer Bassett. 


lV 


CON TE Nas 


PE Ty SA a eee 10) nia eee eR 0 | 
ie tae Oversere ann: His Work!) 2005. 20 els 
Meise Durics OF THE OVERSEER 4. 00 2000. YE 
II]. Terms oF THE OVERSEER’S CONTRACT . . . 23 


/IV. Tue Piantation EXPERIENCE oF JAMEs K. 


ROSE TAN HNN a ee Wargth elt teeny eR ety okt (1 BU 

¥ V. Epuraim BEANLAND’S STRUGGLE FOR PLANTA- 
AGN OUPREMACK ii iUa\is ka tiby, VA'y pate oniten ee 
“ VI. BEANLAND AND THE PLANTATION RouTINE . 69 
VIL. Tue New Puantation 1n Mississipp1 . . 88 


VIII. Tue Overseersuip oF Georce W. BRATTON . 105 
IX. Tue Overseersuip oF JOHN ].GarNER . . 125 
X. ‘THe OverseersHip oF Isaac H. Dismukes . 148 
XI. THe Overseersuip oF JonHn A. Marrs . . 176 


XII. Tue Pianter anp His Commission Mer- 


REE Sri eh a es PAS EAA Bole SIT ip ey 

XIII. Tue Lesson or tHe Letrers .... . 260 

LT EESY fae RRS MEN a CUO a ol ME at RRO or 
Vv 


FLEEUSTRAPEONS 


Epuraim BEANLAND To JAMEs K. PoLtk 
MeERUARY 5, EOZ4 0 2. 2 faceng p. 64 


Isaac DismukEs To JAMes K. Poix 
DercEMBER 25, 1842 . . . . . . facing p. 170 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER I 


The Overseer and His Work 


r=) oe overseer on the oldSouthern plantation 
: EN has departed this life with the institution 
yr. hs that made him a necessity. Unnoticed in 
ify society, with no friends to record his serv- 
Si ices, he lived and disappeared without 
Nee) I jeaving a record of his existence. The 
i had his books, newspapers, and journals; and from 
them we may learn what he did and tried to do. Now and 
again he left diaries and letters that throw light on his man- 
ner of living. He has found writers of imagination to picture 
the life in his mansions. Taken altogether we have had and 
are likely to continue to have a mass of pleasant literature, 
more or less accurate, that perpetuates what he did for his 
time and what he was in it. The sable race at the bottom of 
the system has had its champions also. Their lives have 
been told in prose and poetry. Their trials, virtues, and 
joys have been portrayed with great effect by persons who 
wrote with more or less truthfulness. These things are well 
in their ways. Master and slave have a right to all that can 
be said fairly about them. But the overseer, who was in fact 
_the essential | centre of the industfial operations of f the plan- 
tation system, has been almost wholly neglected. Little is _ 

known of him, and that little is distorted. This book is 
written to present to the reader some of the memorials of 
his life: letters written by his own untutored hands, elo- 
quent in their evidence of society’s miserly gifts to him, and 


[i] 


The Plantation Overseer 


a veracious record of many of the things he did to make pos- 
sible the pleasant living of the planter class. 

‘The overseer’s position was central in the Southern sys- 
tem. The planter might plan and incite, and the slave might 
dig, plow, and gather into barns: it was the overseer who 
brought the mind of the one and the muscle of. the other 
into cooperation. As he did his part well or poorly the plan- 
tation prospered or failed. If there was money in the bank, 
or festivities in the “great house” or gay silks for my lady’s 
wardrobe, he had his part in putting them there. I do not 
mean he was supreme in the process, but he was so high in 
the sharing of responsibility that he stood close to the mas- 
‘ter as a creator of wealth and happiness. 

It was not even his fortune to be esteemed for what he 
did. He was patronized by the benign planters and con- 
temned by the heedless. He might belong to the same church 
with the planter, but he usually preferred some plain form 
of worship, as in the churches of Methodists or Baptists. 
If the two found themselves worshipping in the same place 
they sat apart quite distinctly. Their children did not visit 
one another nor intermarry. Each was a class in society 
and between them in social matters was a frozen ocean. 

When there was illness in the overseer’s family there was 
much kindness for him in the mansion. The mistress on a 
Southern plantation knew no caste in time of distress. Her 
broth, jelly, cordial, and plasters were as freely given to him 
and his as to her neighbors on other plantations. But she 
knew, and the overseer knew, that her visits of mercy were 
not visits of social equality. And he suffered nothing in his 
mind because of his lower place on the ladder. He was born 
to it. His wife was born to it. His children would never 
have aught else so far as the existing environment was con- 


[2] 


The Overseer and His Work 


cerned. Being a sensible man he was not discontented. He 
took the best he could get of what life offered to overseers, 

- finding his wife and marrying off his children in the ranks 
of such people as himself. If he did not like this prospect, 
and sometimes he was in revolt against it, he might turn to 

“the frontier which always had a welcome for a man with 
courage and industry. 
The planters, that is the owners of large farms, were but 
a small part of the white people of the old South, The great 
mass were small farmers, owners of small groups of slaves 

_ or of none at all, men who had land and lived independ- 
ently without leisure, education, or more than simple com- 
forts. These people were the descendants of the original 
settlers, all poor at first, who had not prospered in the new 
environment. Many of them were descended from the in- 
dented servants who had originally bound themselves to 
serve for a number of years in order to pay their passage 
out of old England to the land of opportunity.|_ It was from 

_this class of small farmers that the overseer came. He was 
\often a man whose father had a few slaves, or some ambi- 

“tious farmer youth who had set his eyes upon becoming a 
planter and began to “manage,” as the term was, as a step- 
ping stone to proprietorship in the end. 

Slight as was the respect the overseer had from the plant-_ | pee oils 


—_— 


_er it_was greater than the respect he had from the slaves. 
To them he was the master’s left hand, the burden layer 
and the symbol of the hardest features of bondage.| From 

his decisions an appeal was to the owner who as a dispens- 
er of mercy and forgiveness had some degree of affection 
from the slaves,\|As-a giver of food and clothing and of 
—_largesses at Christmas time and as a protector in extreme 
calamity the master stood high in the respect of the slave. 


[3] 


The Plantation Overseer 


If he was a man of distinction his slaves were apt to be 
pleased that he and not a less prominent man was the mas- 
ter. But the slave was not proud of his overseer nor boasted 
of his overseer’s virtues. It-was.the fate of this man, stand- 
ing in the place of the owner, to absorb the shock of bitter- 
ness felt by the slaves for their enslavers and in so doing 
keep 1 it away from those who were in reality the responsible 
parties. 

It was natural that the slaves thought of the overseer as 
the symbol of slavery. Who rang the plantation bell before 
dawn, calling the hands to prepare for the day’s labor? Who 
kept his eye fixed on the workers and passed judgment on 
the quality of the work? Who gave the signal for leaving 
the field when the sun had passed below the rim of pine 
trees on the western horizon? Who punished the slothful 
and discovered the wiles of the deceitful? It was he, the 
vigilant overseer, who did these things, standing ever in the 
way of any slave who had liberal ideas of the comforts of 
bondage. 

The overseer was not loved: as a rule he was not lovable. 
The life in the South was hearty rather than gentle. It 
dealt with the direct virtues and vices of plain country peo- 
ple. For the class out of which the overseer sprang it was 
crude. The days a boy of this class spent in school were few 
and plain. The small learning he got he used for very 
_simple purposes. He rarely read a book and his newspapers 
were insignificant. With a mind having this imprint he 
looked out on a narrow horizon, \ The itinerant clergyman 
might hammer the simpler rules of righteousness into his 
mind, a good mother might reinforce them with the blessing 
of a virtuous example, but there was not much more that 
could inspire him with the purpose of making his steward- 


[4 ] 


The Overseer and His Work 


ship gentle or liberal for the slaves. |His words were apt to 
be severe, his epithets might be strong, his standards of jus- 

-tice might be crude. Negro slavery did not invite liberal 
ideas,| The relation was primeval and the subject race was 
childlike. When, therefore, this uneducated white man and 
this child race of black men came together under the aegis 
of slavery there was much groping in the dark. 

In Professor Ulrich B. Phillips’s excellent book, “Ameri- 
can Negro Slavery” (1918), we may find much information 
about the life of the overseer, what kind of a man he was 
and what he did as a part of the plantation system. The 
ideal held for him by the planter was high, demanding a 
man of many qualities and much enlightenment. James H. 
Hammond, an eminent South Carolina planter, is quoted 
by Phillips to the following effect: “The overseer will never 
be expected to work in the fields, but he must always be 
with the hands when not otherwise engaged in the employ- 
er’s business.” |T’o work side by side with the slaves was 
thought to weaken one’s authority over them] “The over- 
seer, continues Hammond, “must never be absent a single 
night, nor an entire day, without permission previously ob- 
tained. Whenever absent at church or elsewhere he must be 
on the plantation by sundown without fail. He must at- 
tend every night and morning at the stables and see that 
the mules are watered, cleaned and fed, and the barn locked. 
He must keep the stable keys at night, and all the keys in a 
safe place, and never allow anyone to unlock the barn, 
smoke-house, or other depository of plantation stores but 
himself. He must endeavor, also, to be with the plough- 
hands always at noon.” Exacting as these rules were on the 
overseer’s time, they were reasonable. Barns and storehouses 
had to be kept locked, and if the slaves were left to lock 


[5] 


The Plantation Overseer 


them the contents would not be secure. Mules had to be 
curried and fed, and if the task were left to the slaves with- 
out supervision it would often be neglected. It took a lot 
of effort to get the ordinary amount of work out of a slave. 

For his many services the overseer received a salary vary- 
ing from $250 to $600 a year, but on some very large planta- 
tions it was more. Polk thought he paid high wages in the 
early thirties when he was paying Ephraim Beanland $350 a 
year. In the older seacoast region of the cotton belt the 
pay was as high as $600 on the large plantations and 
even ran up to $1000 in exceptional times. Added to the 
pay was the use of a house and the services of a cook and 
even of a man servant, with board and the use of a horse. 
In the early history of the plantation the overseer was given 
a share of the crop but experience showed that it was a bad 
system. The tendency under it was for the overseer to work 
the slaves so hard that he injured their health, and for this 
reason the practice was given up. 

Some of the overseers took up the calling with the idea of 
acquiring experience and a start in the world, after which 
they might embark on the career of planter on their own 
accounts. Out of their savings they bought slaves whom 
they hired to their employers or to others. When the time 
séemed fitting they moved off to the frontier where land 
was cheap. Arrived there they set up as planters on a small 
scale. If industrious and practical they increased in wealth 
and in social position. For such men two generations were 
enough to bleach out of the family all traces of the overseer 
taint. Its representative members now became men of solid 
worth, their children assumed the status of pillars of so- 
ciety, and their grandchildren might be noted for personal 
charm and distinguished manners. In the third generation 


[6] 


The Overseer and His Work 


uf 
very little memory was held of the origin of the family, ja 
trait in which the grandchildren of an overseer were by no 


ns unique. 

[Comparatively few of the overseers were of this ambitious 
ard advancing class. The majority were men of little im- 
agination and saw no further into the future than the con- 
tentment that came from doing well the task of the year. 
Among them were many good and many indifferent man- 
agers. The good were the comfort and the bad were the 
despair of their employers.\| A planter was fortunate who 
had an overseer whom he trusted thoroughly and who un- 
derstood the land and managed the slaves in a satisfactory 
manner.. He could visit the springs in the summer or the 
city in the winter without anxiety./ He had leisure for 
hunting, reading, or politics, as his taste led him. 

The overseers had the vices common to the class in 
society from which they sprang, the small farmers and the 
landless whites. They had little education, as their fathers 
before them had. They often drank spirituous liquors to 
excess, or were idle and ineffective. They inherited the 
slovenness that their fathers had inherited from the in- 
dented servants whom the colonists had brought over 
from the sodden mass of English laborers of the seventeenth 
century. There was nothing in their lives to induce them to 
throw off these limitations. They had the powers of a pro- 
consul in a narrow province, and their subjects were the 
African slaves, the plantation mules, and the cattle. | Some- 
times they ruled, despite the vices inherent in this position, 
in such a way that the province smiled with plenty and 
contentment. 

George Washington, who was a man of excellent business 
method, had much to say to the discredit of his overseers. 


ae 


The Plantation Overseer 


He spoke of their bad habit of “running about,” meaning, no 
doubt, leaving the estate for country frolics, thus giving the 
slave opportunity to go where he chose. One he described 
as intelligent and honest but vain and talkative and slow in 
getting the work done. Another neglected his duties in 
order to visit his friends, so that the slaves did things during 
his absence for which they had to be whipped when he came 
back. Of another it was said that he had “no more author- 
ity over'the slaves." ‘547: than an old woman would have.” 
Another was described as sickly and stupid and another as 
a failure because he put himself on a level with the slaves 
and lost their respect. These qualities were probably typi- 
cal of the run of the overseers. They give us an idea of what 
the members of the class were like who were neither excep- 
tionally good nor exceptionally bad; and it was out of this 
intermediate class that most planters had to be served. 

We may see Washington’s idea of overseers in general in 
his advice to a new steward who was placed in charge of 
his several plantations. In telling him how to deal with 
these men Washington said: “To treat them kindly is no 
more than what all men are entitled to; but my advice to 
you 1s, keep them at a proper distance, for they grow upon 
familiarity and you will sink in authority, if you do not. 
Pass by no fault or neglects, particularly at first, for over- 
looking one only serves to generate another.” 

The overseer took the place assigned to him without com- 
plaint. He was a solitary figure on the plantation, whether 
the master lived there or not. To the slaves he was 
“Buckra,” a word expressing scorn for a man of no stand- 
ing. He could not touch the life above nor the life below 
him. If his employer did not reside on the place the over- 
seer gained little in standing; for he was apt to be more 


[8 ] 


The Overseer and His Work 


disliked by the slaves and no better received by the owners 
of the surrounding plantations. It was even more necessary 
for him to stay on the place, since he was the only white 
man there. He gained, however, in opportunity to violate 
his instructions; and it is not to be wondered at if he was 
tempted to slip off at night eg ra dance through sheer 
revolt at his state of isolation 

The letters published in this book are the clearest possible 
evidence of the mind, character, and culture of those who 
wrote them. They show what kind of men stood at the 
actual centre of the plantation system and made it go. We 
see men who rarely had the learning acquired by their de- 
scendants in the second grade of the modern Southern 
schools. To them were entrusted the care of property worth 
from $50,000 to $100,000. I can think of no other form of 
industry in which so much property was under the manage- 
ment of such illiterate men_The things needed in the over- , 
“qualities existed he would succeed | though illiterate 4 

The reader will make a mistake if he dismisses the over- 
seer as insignificant because he was illiterate. Literacy is 
not the same thing as being intelligent; and it is probable 
that nature gives her gifts about as freely in a community 
where there are few good schools as in communities where 
there are many. At any rate] the overseer, despite his il- 
literacy, generally met the emergency thrust upon him. In 
proportion to what he did he was underpaid What other 
agent in our industrial history ever took under his direction 
so much property for the salary of the average overseer? 

From many sources the present generation has received 
statements purporting to describe the life on the planta- 
tion. In fiction and in the reminiscences of persons who 


[9] 


The Plantation Overseer 


look back at the life they loved they have built up a picture 
of a joyous and sparkling life. In the letters of the over- 
seers one finds another view. It is in gray shades, reflecting 
a life that was not what the novelists have presented. True, 
it was not a picture of the whole life on the plantation. But 
it referred to the doing of work, the health of the slaves, and 
the general problem of making crops. So far as they can go 
these letters give us in a way we may not question the defi- 
nite assurance that the plantation had its dreary side. 


1 For an excellent discussion of what he aptly terms the “Plantation Tradition” 


see Professor Francis Pendleton Gaines’s Southern Plantation (Columbia Press, New 


York, 1925). It traces the “Tradition” through American fiction, essays, drama, 
poetry, popular music and travel from the early decades of the nineteenth century 


and presents a good comparison of the “Tradition” with the actual state of living on 
the plantation. 


[ 10 ] 


| 
| 


} 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER II 
The Duties of the Overseer 


a2 HE Old South had its quota of gentle- 
ZS 
men farmers who employed their leisure 


§ riodicals. Oneof their topics was farm man- 
4 agement, and out of their observations up- 
on it Professor Phillips* has collected an 
interesting mass of information. I have drawn from it lib- 
erally in the preparation of this chapter and begin by mak- 
ing acknowledgments to my benefactor. A word of caution, 
however, seems to be necessary. The planters who wrote 
for the press were not always the most successful of their 
class, nor did they put into operation all of the precepts they 
thought out in theirown chambers. Their observations are, 
therefore, to be understood as something more or less than 
the actual state of affairs. In what follows here an attempt 
has been made to make a fair deduction for this margin of 
error. 

\ ‘The first duty of the overseer, or or manager, as he was fre- 


_quently called, was to take care of the slaves and the stock. 
Next he was to see that eno 


ugh food was produced for use_ 


on the place. By food was meant corn, bacon, potatoes, and 
vegetables for the slaves and corn, fodder, hay, and oats for 


the stock. T Phese two duties done, he-was to raise as much 


cotton, or rice 1 u over-_ 


Sa sles Placing the production of supplies be- 
1 Phillips, Ulrich B., “American Negro Slavery” (N. Y., 1918). 


[11] 


The Plantation Overseer 


fore the raising of a money crop was sound judgment. Now 
and again came a devastating drought and frequently some 
calamity tended to reduce the yield of food. It did not pay 
to run too close to the margin of safety in such a respect. A 
wise planter sought to insure against such inconvenience by 
having more supplies than he needed rather than not 
enough. ) 

The routine of the overseer was as follows: An hour be- 
fore dawn he rang the bell or blew the horn that called the 
hands from their beds. On some places they prepared their 
breakfasts in their cabins, on others they had breakfast 
brought to them.in the fields after they had begun to work. 
It was always desired that they be assembled in the yards 
by the time it was broad daylight, and when the sun ap- 
peared above the horizon it was expected that they should 
be at their tasks. They worked in groups, each with a leader, 
or driver, who was one of the slaves. Throughout the day 
the overseer went from one to the other group to see that the 
labor was performed properly. At noon dinner was brought 
to the fields, if the gangs were working at a distance from the 
cabins, or eaten in their cabins if the cabins were close at 
hand. 

The overseer was to inspect the food and see that it was 
Wholesome. He gave the signal for leaving the fields when 
the sun had set. He looked after the feeding of the stock, 
the closing of the barns and stables, which must be locked 
and the keys taken by him and kept safely. One of the bad 
habits of the slaves. was to take out horses or mules during 
the night and ride to remote places, and the overseer was 
expected to see that no such thing happened. At half past 
nine he rang a curfew bell and then went the rounds of the 
cabins to see that the occupants were abed. He was also ex- 


[ 12 ] 


The Duties of the Overseer 


pected to visit the houses unexpectedly during the night 
lest some of the people had slipped away after his inspec- 
tion. If he did all these things continually-he was a very 
.__No slave on the place served as long hours as the 
¥ overseer was expected to serve) From an hour before dawn 
to ten at night was seventeen or eighteen hours. And if he 
got up, to make inspections during the night he had little 
sleep.\ It is not likely that the details as here outlined were 
carried out with exactness 

The overseer was instructed to take the best possible 
moral care of his charges and to afford them fair opportu- 
nity, as far as he could, for getting religious instruction. “I 
want all my people,” wrote one planter to his manager, “en- 
couraged to cultivate religious feeling and morality and 
punished for inhumanity to their children or stock, for pro- 
fanity, lying and stealing. . . . When ever the services of a 
suitable person can be secured have them instructed in re- 
ligion. In view of the fanaticism of the age, it behooves the 
master or overseer to be present on all such occasions. They 
should be instructed on Sundays in day time if practicable; 
if not, then on Sunday night.” 

Judging by the overseer letters that have come into my 
hands the writers of them were not men of sufficient en- 
lightenment to qualify as censors of preaching, to deter- 
mine whether it was incendiary or not. They were prob- 
ably safe enough to say that an open incitement to insur- 
rection was objectionable. But such an incitement was not 
likely to be made by any man permitted to preach to the 
slaves. On utterances less open and direct the overseers 
were not safe judges. To make them censors of the sermons 
delivered to the slaves was ridiculous. 

In all the preaching to slaves there was, in fact, some- 


[ 13 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


thing incongruous. In the first place the slave was not to be 
taught to read — this after the initiation of the active anti- 
slavery propaganda in 1831 by William Lloyd Garrison. If 
a slave could not read the Bible, the guide of his Christian 
life, how could he be expected to absorb the spirit of Chris- 
tianity? He could not “search the scriptures” in which was 
eternal life. More than half of the Christian religion was 
diverted from him by condemning him to illiteracy. 
Another incongruity was in the narrow range of the 
preaching that could be made to the slaves within the limits 
imposed by slavery. There must be no argument based on 
such texts as “The truth will make you free,” and “The 
laborer is worthy of his hire.” Doctrines that would make 
a man wish to raise himself to something better and higher 
were impossible ; for they were sure to create dissatisfaction 
with slavery. The religious instructors of these people so 
unhappily placed had to recognize these facts and to preach 
a doctrine of contentment and humility. In an instinctive 
reaction against the hard lot of this world they dwelt at 
large upon the joys and beauties of a world to come. 
Lunsford Lane, who was born in North Carolina, pur- 
chased his freedom and became an abolitionist lecturer in 
the North just before the civil war, gives the negro’s views 
on this subject in the following words: “I often heard select 
portions of the Scriptures read in our social meetings and 
comments made upon them. On Sunday we always had one 
sermon prepared expressly for the colored people, which it 
was generally my privilege to hear. So great was the sim- 
ilarity of the texts that they were always fresh in my mem- 
ory: ‘Servants, be obedient to your masters’ —‘“not with 
eye-service, as men-pleasers.’ “He that knoweth his mas- 
ter’s will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many 


[ 14 ] 


The Duzies of the Overseer 


stripes ;? and some others of this class. Similar passages, 
with but few exceptions, formed the basis of most of these 
public instructions. . . . I will not do them the injustice 
to say that connected with these instructions there was not 
mingled much that was excellent. There was one very kind- 
hearted clergyman whom I used often to hear; he was very 
popular with the colored people. But after he had preached 
a sermon to us in which he argued from the Bible that it 
was the will of Heaven from all eternity that we should be 
slaves, and our masters be our owners, many of us left him, 
considering, like the doubting disciple of old, “This is a hard 
saying, who can hear it?’”” 

| As the representative of the owner the overseer had the 
duty of sitting as judge over the wrongdoing of the slaves. 
He had wide authority, for evidence of guilt, procedure, 
and extenuating circumstances were within his discretion. 
In view of his slight degree of culture this fact placed the 
slave’s case at the mercy of an unenlightened judge. On the 
other hand the thing needed was not a knowledge of law, 
but common sensat and it will be allowed that when a man 
had proved himself a successful manager of a plantation he 
had a fair store of that quality. Also,we must not forget 
that the negro did not make the same distinctions as men of 
higher degrees of progress in civilization. He recognized 
the propriety of discipline and quick and firm punishment 
when orders were violated. If now and then a man was 
punished too much, or when innocent, it nevertheless re- 
mained that most of those who were punished were not 
given more than was considered just, and most of those 
who were punished were believed to be guilty. By and large 
the slave did not feel very deeply any lapses the overseer 

1 Hawkins, W. G., “Lunsford Lane,” p. 65. 


[15 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


may have made in awarding punishment unless it was done 
cruelly. 

\The decision once made the overseer saw that the execu- 
tion of punishment was done in such a way as to make the 
victim respect the power that inflicted it. Some masters in- 
sisted that their slaves should be sent to a public offi- 
cial for the whipping. In most cases the overseer did the 
whipping himself. Sometimes he stood by while a driver, 
that is, a slave, applied the lash. In stubborn cases the vic- 
tim was “salted.” This process was very painful and it was 
dreaded by the slaves. It consisted in whipping the victim 
on the bare back until the thongs cut the flesh and then 
washing the back down with strong brine. In some cases 
this was repeated several times) In general, public opinion 
was against “salting” and other forms of extreme punish- 
ment. Humane masters did not resort to such means of 
breaking the resistance of a slave unless they thought the 
case an unusual one. If a slave had to be dealt with as 
severely as this they believed it was better to sell him to a 
trader. 

Y Some planters believed that a plantation could be run 
without whipping. Few overseers agreed with the idea, /For 
whipping the benevolent ones would substitute tact, pa- 
tience, and a careful study of the peculiarities of the ai 
vidual slaves. Not many masters and even fewer overseers 
had the address to carry out such ideas, It was the ordinary 
view that whipping was “the only thing that would do a 
negro any good.” Probably most of the slaves would have 
\accepted the view in an abstract way. The power to whip 
within his discretion was held to be a necessary thing for 
the overseer’s success with the slaves under him. At the 
same time it placed an alarming power in the hands of men 


[ 16 |] 


The Duties of the Overseer 


who were not always likely to use it with discretion. 

“In the absence of the master the overseer administered 
the regulations governing the marriage of slaves. It was a 
common rule that slaves should not marry slaves living off 
the plantation, since such marriages involved visiting and 
brought up the problem of discipling such visitors when 
on the plantation of the wife’s master, One master whose 
ideas we have in writing directed his overseer to permit sep- 
aration when sufficient cause was shown on either side, the 
overseer, evidently, to be the judge of what was sufficient 
cause ; but it was added, the offending party must be severe- 
ly punished. If both were guilty both must be punished, 
and if after that they insisted on separation they must have 
a hundred lashes each. After such separation neither was 
to marry again for three years. For the first marriage a 
bounty of $5.00 was allowed to be invested in household 
articles. But if either had been married before the bounty 
was to be $2.50. A third marriage was not to be allowed.’ 

It has been said that failure to breed was considered 
grounds for separation: the charge was denied by the mas- 
ters as a class. Probably it was unusual for a separation to 
occur for this cause; but\it was one of the peculiarities of 
slavery that great latitude was allowed to the owner, so 
that he might do as he chose about most things. Conse- 
quently things done by one master might not be done by 
another. Some were not ruled by feelings of humanity nor 
even by public opinion. | If a man of this class decided that 
a young slave woman was not bearing children by the hus- 
band she had he probably made it as easy for her to sepa- 
rate and form another marriage as she desired. The law 
did not look on the union of slaves as legal marriage; and 


1 Phillips, “American Negro Slavery,” 269. 


Baezul: 


The Plantation Overseer 


one of the first things to be done after emancipation was to 
take steps for remedying that defect. 

It ought to be remembered that the negroes themselves" 
did not esteem marriage as the white people esteemed it. In | 
Africa a wife was considered property, and polygamy was 
practiced by many tribes. Divorce was easy and it was re- 
sorted to freely. The negro therefore arrived in America 
with ideas favorable to a loose marriage bond. Contact with 
the whites taught them to hold it in stricter esteem, but the 
old standards did not.disappear suddenly. It is doubtful if 
the separations that occurred produced great distress in the, 
minds of either party involved. 

Dealing with runaways was one of the overseer’s most 
difficult problems. Nearly every plantation had slaves who 
were accustomed to flee to the woods when they thought the 
discipline too severe. To get these persons back to their 
work was a thing that demanded address. Punishment for 
the liberty they had taken was a matter of course. It was 
expected by the runaway himself, and sometimes a form of 
negotiation seems to have been employed through the me- 
dium of some slaves who had not run off, by which it was 
agreed that the runaway would return provided his pun- 
ishment did not go beyond a stipulated amount. The ap- 
proach of cold weather could be counted on to bring many 
back. These conditions did not maintain in the parts of the 
South that permitted escape into the free states. In such 
sections the runaway was apt to turn his steps northward. 

In the letters that follow are many allusions to runaways. 
None of them show such a group tendency to deal with 
the overseer in retaliation as the following incident related 
by a Georgia overseer and quoted by Professor Phillips: 
“I write you a few lines to let you know that six of 


[ 18 ] 


The Duties of the Overseer 


your hands has left the plantation every man but Jack. 
They displeased me with their worke and I give some 
of them a few lashes, Tom with the rest. On Wednesday 
morning they were missing. I think they are lying out un- 
til they can see you or your uncle Jack, as he is expected 
daily. They may be gone off, or they may be lying around 
in this neighborhood, but I don’t know. I blame Tom for 
the whole. I don’t think the rest of them would of left the 
plantation if Tom had not of persuaded them of for some 
design. I give Tom but a few licks, but if I ever get him in 
my power I will have satisfaction. There was a part of them 
had no cause for leaving, only they thought that if they 
would all go it would injure me moore. They are as inde- 
pendent set for running as I have ever seen, and I think the 
cause is they have been treated too well. They want more 
whiping and no protector; but if our country is so that 
negroes can quit their homes and run off when they please 
without being taken they will have the advantage of us.”” 

The tone of this letter indicates that the writer of it was 
not a man who should have been permitted to correct 
slaves. It shows that he lacked firmness and good judg- 
ment. Washington seems to have had a similar overseer, 
and he gives us a view of the man’s character by writing: 
“Let Abram get his deserts when taken, but do not trust 
Crow to give it to him, for I have reason to believe he is 
swayed more by passion than by judgment in all his cor- 
_ rections.” 

estimony shows that the overseer had more trouble 

with the slave women than with the men. Travelers in 
Africa have noticed that the women there have a marked 
ascendency over the men, that they keep them in awe of 

1 Phillips, “American Negro Slavery,” p. 303. 

2 [bid., p. 285. 

[ 19 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


their sharp tongues and that they are in general of violent 
passions as compared with the men. These qualities ap- 
peared in the slaves in the South. As a result many planta- 
tions had women who kept the rest of the slaves in a state 
of unrest and thereby made it hard for the overseer to keep 
order>| 

Phillips mentions several slave women who stood out 
for one bad quality or another. The case of one, a cer- 
tain Suckey, is so suggestive that I give it here in the words 
of the Virginia overseer who reported it to his employer. 
“T sent for hir to come in the morning,” he wrote, “to hep 
Secoure the foder, but She sent me word that She would not 
come to worke that Day, and that you had ordered her to 
wash hir Cloaiths and goo to Any meeting She pleased any 
time in the weke without my leafe, and on Monday when I 
come to Reckon with her about it she said it was your or- 
ders and she would do it in Defiance of me... . . I hope if 
Suckey is aloud that privilege more than the Rest, that she 
will be moved to some other place, and one Come in her 
Room.” | } 

In nothing was the master more concerned than in the 
increase of his slaves through the birth of children. He re- 
sented the charge that he was breeding slaves as other men 
bred horses. Nevertheless, he watched carefully the sta- 
tistics of births and within the bounds of humanity he took 
pains to promote conditions that made for large families. 
He encouraged marriage because he thought they made for 
orderly living and a large number of children. In some 
states it was a common saying that a slave child was worth. 
a hundred dollars as soon as it breathed. 

In realization of this desire it devolved on the overseer 


1 Phillips, “American Negro Slavery,” 280. 


[ 20 ] 


The Duties of the Overseer 


to see that the women were taken care of that childbirth 
might be attended with no serious mishap. The ignorance 

of the women made it necessary to take many precautions. 

V/A large number of children died soon after being born: In 
many cases it was reported that the mothers lay on them in 
the night. How much this was due to sheer ignorance, how 
much to the alleged indifference of the slave women for 
their offspring, and how much to a desire to bring no chil- 
dren into the world to live under slavery it is impossible to 
say. Perhaps each cause contributed to the result. 

The instructions of the employers required the overseer 
to see that mothers did not nurse their children in hot 
weather for fifteen minutes after they had come from the 
fields, that they were not put to difficult labor when they 
were not physically able to perform it, that they had the 
proper food for nursing women, that they had time from 
their work to go to the houses to nurse their children, that 
a midwife was on the plantation, or nearby, and many other 
things pertaining to safe childbearing. I find no evidence 
that doctors were summoned in childbirth, and it seems to 
have been the custom to leave the case entirely to the mid- 
wife, who was invariably a slave. On the other hand it 
should be remembered that most of the early white settlers 
in this country followed the same practice. 

Crude as this method may seem it was greatly better 
than anything the negro had been used to in Africa. In 
marriage, religion, the use of language, treatment for 
disease, ideals of industry and private property, low as he 
was in slavery, he was nevertheless higher than in his an- 
cestral home. In Africa most of the negroes who came to 
America had never seen a plough, a metal implement of agri- 
culture, nor any animal domesticated to help man do his 


[ 21 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


work. After a hundred years of slavery he had learned the 
fundamentals in all these lines. After another hundred 
years he was still higher up in the scale of progress. Hard 
as it was slavery had its service for him. He would never 
have come into the contact with the white man’s civilization 
if it had not been for slavery. Had he been brought into 
touch with it by any other means he would not have ab- 
sorbed it. It was the force in slavery that taught him to 
labor with some degree of regularity, it was the authority 
of the master that taught him to improve his ideas of mo- 
rality, it was the superior authority of the white race that 
induced him to change fetishism for a rude and simple kind 
of Christianity. In many ways slavery instilled in him the 
fundamentals of civilization. This truth is just beginning 
to be understood: some day it will be better realized. Slav- 
ery was a hard school but in it the Africans learned some 
good lessons. 

These people disliked much the overseers who them- 
selves knew so little of the things of culture. But they knew 
enough to teach the benighted black people. They taught 
them by making them do. They stormed at them for not 
doing, lashed them for doing badly, and made them acquire 
habits they would not have acquired but for this rough 
tutelage. Nor were they always rough teachers, though 
their methods were frequently primitive. That they were 
usually men of sense and good intention is seen in the fact 
that the institution of slavery did not go to pieces under 
their supervision but actually became more firmly rooted 
in the minds of masters and slaves. As a rule they were 
men of ability and administered their many duties toward 
the slaves with a fair amount of efficiency. ; 


[ 22 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER (£11 
Terms of the Overseer’s Contract 


5-@ HE contract incorporated in this chapter 
DAG =) was prepared by Plowden C. J. Weston, a 
3/28, South Carolina rice planter, for use on his 

Ox several plantations. It was printed origi- 
ESS nally as a small pamphlet with blank 
spaces to be filled out as occasion de- 
manded with the names of the overseers and the plantations 
on which they were employed. The actual contract was 
simple enough, but attached to it were a number of rules 
which when signed became a part of the instrument. The 
form in which the contract was printed suggests that the 
employer expected the overseer to keep it at hand, familiar- 
ize himself with the contents, and use it as a guide in his 
operations." 

It is probable that overseers did not follow the terms of 
this instrument exactly. Nor did all the employers attempt 
to have so complete a body of rules put into operation. The 
paper is interesting chiefly because it indicates a high 
standard for the conduct of a good overseer.. As a statement 
to be lived up to it gives us an ideal for measuring the pur- 
poses of the slaveowners. Many of its rules were un- 


1 Weston’s rules were published in De Bow’s Review, XXII, 38-44. In the same 
periodical (XXI, 617-620, Dec., 1856 and XXII, 376-381, April, 1857) are rules of a 
similar general nature prepared by Joseph A. S. Acklen of Louisiana. In Professor 
Phillips’s “American Negro Slavery,” 261-290, is much on the same subject. See also 
his “Plantation and Frontier,” I, 109-129. De Bow’s Review of this period contains 
many other pieces on plantation management, which was a favorite subject for planters 
when writing for the press. 

[ 23 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


doubtedly fairly put into operation. Like most everything 
else about slavery it depended to a great extent on the kind 
of men who had to execute it. The contract was in the fol- 
lowing form: 


RULES FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF.................. 
PLANTATION TO BE OBSERVED BY THE OVERSEER.” 


“Memorandum of an Agreement between 4 
cee TS BO on the one part, and Plowden Charles Jennett Weston 
on the other part: 

Sirs Acrern: Chat re shall live at... 
RNP LS Meat aN ARONS oe Plantation as Overseer for the year 18____.; 
and that he shall follow all and every the printed rules hereunto 
annexed. 

“Tr 1s AGREED That Plowden Charles Jennett Weston shall pay him, 
for his services as Overseer, at the rate. of___(2 sea 
Dollars a year; and shall find him in a house a woman, saa a oo 
and in feed for one horse during the year 18... 

“Tn Witness of which Agreement, we have hereunto set our hands 


and seals, this _.___.___._..__.._day of = aa , in the 
year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and... and of the 
Independence of the United States the______ = eae 
(L. S.) 
(L. 8.) 
RULES? ic 


“The Proprietor, in the first place, wishes the Overseer MOST 
DISTINCTLY to understand that his first object is to be, under all 
circumstances, the care and well being of the negroes. The proprietor 
is always ready to excuse such errors as may proceed from want of 
judgment; but he never can or will excuse any cruelty, severity, or 
want of care towards the negroes. For the well being, however, of 
the negroes, it is absolutely necessary to maintain obedience, order, 
and discipline, to see that the tasks are punctually and carefully per- 
formed, and to conduct the business steadily and firmly, without weak- 


1 Tt was printed in pamphlet form by A. J. Burke, 40 Broad Street, Charleston. 


[ 24 ] 


Terms of the Overseers Contract 


ness on the one hand, or harshness on the other. For such ends the 
following regulations have been instituted: 

“Lists, Tickets. — The names of all the men are to be called over 
every Sunday morning and evening, from which none are to be absent 
but those who are sick, or have tickets. When there is evening 
Church, those who attend are to be excused from answering. At eve- 
ning list, every negro must be clean and well washed. No one is to 
be absent from the place without a ticket, which is always to be given 
to such as ask it, and have behaved well. All persons coming from the 
Proprietor’s other places should shew their tickets to the Overseer, 
who should sign his name on the back; those going off the plantation 
should bring back their tickets signed. The Overseer is every now 
and then to go round at night and call at the houses, so as to ascer- 
tain whether their inmates are at home. 

“ALLOWANCE, Foop. — Great care should be taken that the negroes 
should never have less than their regular allowance: in all cases of 
doubt, it should be given in favor of the largest quantity. The meas- 
ures should not be struck, but rather heaped up over. None but pro- 
visions of the best quality should be used. If any is discovered to be 
damaged, the Proprietor, if at hand, is to be immediately informed: if 
absent, the damaged article is to be destroyed. The corn should be 
carefully winnowed before grinding. The small rice is apt to become 
sour: as soon as this is perceived it should be given every meal until 
finished, or until it becomes too sour to use, when it should be de- 
stroyed. 

“Allowances are to be given out according to the following schedule. 
None of the allowances given out in the big pot are to be taken from 
the cook until after they are cooked, nor to be taken home by the 
people. 


SCHEDULE OF ALLOWANCES 
Daily, (Sundays Excepted) 


“During Potato-time. 

Wereseh person doing anyvwork.. 2 4 qts. 
To each child at the negro-houses_crerccuencwmnnnnnn EAM Ih LAND 2 qts. 
“During Grits-time. 
To the cook for public-pot, for every person doing any work........ I qt. 


[25 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


To the child’s cook, for each child at the negro-houses__.._____... I pt. 
Salt to cook. for the public-pot ——__=_ 
Salt to child’s cook Ws he SBE 


“On every Tuesday and Friday throughout the year. 
To cook for public-pot, for whole gang of workers, trades, 
drivers, &c., Meat __...___...._ Ibs. 
To child’s-cook for all the children, Meat —____ ee 
“On every Tuesday and Friday from April 1st to October rst. 
To the plantation cook for each person doing any work, instead 


of the pint of grits, Small Rice ee I pt. 
To the child’s-cook for each child instead of the % pt. of ane, 

Small Rice _....___._.__.._ ee 
To plantation cook for the whole gang of workers, tradesmen, 

drivers, &c., Peas... qts. 


“Every Thursday throughout the year. 
To the child’s-cook, for all the children, Molasses__.._.__- qts. 


“Weekly Allowance throughout the year — To be given out 
“Every Saturday Afternoon. 
To each person doing any ‘work, Flour eee — 3qts. 
To each child at negro-houses __.__________ 
To each person who has behaved well, and has not been sick 
during the week, 2 Fish or 1 pt. Molasses. 

Wojeach wurses: ve Che ea ee 4 Fish or 14 pt. Molasses. 
To head-carpenter; to head-miller; 
To head-cooper; to head-ploughman; 


i Fish or 
To watchman; to trunk minder; 3 
‘ : 14 pt. Molasses 
To drivers; to mule-minder; aan 


To hog-minder; to cattle-minder; and 
To every superannuated person, 


“Monthly Allowance — On the 1st of every Month. 


To each person doing any work, and each superannuated per- 
SOD ai . Salt, 1 gt: 
| E o fhstid IMUM enc ennai Coe Be __ Tobacco 1 hand. 


Terms of the Overseer’s Contract 


“Christmas Allowance. 


To each person doing any work, 
and each superannuated person 
Fresh Meat, 3 Ibs. 


Salt do. ... 3 Ibs. 
Molasses I qt. 
Small Rice 4 qts. 
Salt YZ bushel. 
To each child at negro-houses Fresh Meat 14 lbs. 
Salt Meat 14 lbs. 
Molasses I pt. 
Small Rice, 2 qts. 
Additional Allowance. 
Every day when rice is sown or harvested, to the cook, Meat, Ibs. 
for the whole gang of workers in the field Peas qts. 


No allowances or presents, besides the above, are on any con- 
sideration to be made — except for sick people, as specified 
further on. 


“Worx, Houipayrs, &c. — No work of any sort or kind is to be per- 
mitted to be done by negroes on Good Friday or Christmas day, or on 
any Sunday, except going for a Doctor, or nursing sick persons; any 
work of this kind done on any of these days is to be reported to the 
Proprietor, who will pay for it. The two days following Christmas 
day; the first Saturdays after finishing threshing, planting, hoeing, 
and harvest, are also to be-holidays, on which the people may work 
for themselves. Only half task is to be done on every Saturday, ex- 
cept during planting and harvest, and by those who have misbehaved 
or been lying up during the week. A task is as much work as the 
meanest full hand can do in nine hours, working industriously. The 
Driver is each morning to point out to each hand their task, and this 
task is never to be increased, and no work is to be done over task 
except under the most urgent necessity; which over-work is to be re- 
ported to the Proprietor, who will pay for it. No negro is to be put 
into a task which they cannot finish with tolerable ease. It is a bad 
plan to punish for not finishing task; it is subversive of discipline to 
leave tasks unfinished, and contrary to justice to punish for what 


[ 27 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


cannot be done. In nothing does a good manager so much excel a 
bad, as in being able to discern what a hand 1s capable of doing, and 
in never attempting to make him do more. 

“No negro is to leave his task until the Driver has examined and 
approved it, he is then to be permitted immediately to go home; and 
the hands are to be encouraged to finish their tasks as early as possi- 
ble, so as to have time for working for themselves. Every negro, ex- 
cept the sickly ones and those with suckling children, (who are to be 
allowed half an hour,) are to be on board the flat by sunrise. One 
Driver is to go down to the flat early, the other to remain behind and 
bring on all the people with him. He will be responsible for all com- 
ing down. The barn-yard bell will be rung by the watchman two 
hours, and half an hour before sunrise. 

“PUNISHMENTS. — It is desirable to allow 24 hours to elapse be- 
tween the discovery of the offence and the punishment. No punish- 
ment is to exceed 15 lashes: in cases where the Overseer supposes a 
severer punishment necessary, he must apply to the Proprietor, or to 
ROM IR AYE NS BI , Esq., in case of the Proprietor’s absence from 
the neighborhood. Confinement (mot in the stocks) is to be preferred 
to whipping; but the stoppage of Saturday’s allowance, and doing 
whole task on Saturday, will suffice to prevent ordinary offences. 
Special care must be taken to prevent any indecency in punishing 
women. No Driver, or other negro, is to be allowed to punish any 
person in any way, except by order of the Overseer, and in his 
presence. 

“Frats, Boats, &c. — All the flats, except those in immediate use, 
should be kept under cover, and sheltered from the sun. Every boat 
must be locked up every evening, and the keys taken to the Overseer. 
No negro will be allowed to keep a boat. 

“Sickness. — All sick persons are to stay in the hospital night and 
day, from the time they first complain to the time they are able to go 
to work again. The nurses are to be responsible for the sick not 
leaving the house, and for the cleanliness of bedding, utensils, &c. The 
nurses are never to be allowed to give any medicine, without the orders 
of the Overseer or Doctor.. A woman, beside the plantation nurse, 
must be put to nurse all persons seriously ill. In all cases at all serious 
the Doctor is to be sent for, and: his orders are to be strictly attended 


[ 28 | 


Terms of the Overseers Contract 


to: no alteration is to be made in the treatment he directs. Lying-in 
women are to be attended by the midwife as long as is necessary, and 
by a woman put to nurse them for a fortnight. They will remain at 
the negro houses for 4 weeks, and will then work 2 weeks on the high- 
land. In some cases, however, it is necessary to allow them to lie up 
longer. The health of many women has been entirely ruined by want 
of care in this particular. Women are sometimes in such a state as to 
render it unfit for them to work in water; the Overseer should take 
care of them at these times. The pregnant women are always to do 
some work up to the time of their confinement, if it is only walking 
into the field and staying there. If they are sick, they are to go to the 
hospital, and stay there until it is pretty certain their time is near. 

“Nourishing food is to be provided for those who are getting better. 
The Overseer will keep an account of the articles he purchases for this 
purpose, during the Proprietor’s absence, which he will settle for as 
soon as he returns. 

“Breepinc 1s UnpER ALL CircuMSTANCES STRICTLY PROHIBITED, 
Excerpt sy Orper oF THE Doctor. — The Overseer is particularly 
warned not to give strong medicines, such as calomel, or tartar emetic: 
simple remedies such as flax-seed tea, mint water, No. 6, magnesia, 
&c., are sufficient for most cases, and do less harm. Strong medicines 
should be left to the Doctor; and since the Proprietor never grudges a 
Doctor’s bill, however large, he has a right to expect that the Over- 
seer shall always send for the Doctor when a serious case occurs. Dr. 
_is the Physician of the place. When he is ab- 
Seog Dr CCCCCC;:«=CGreat care must be taken to prevent 
persons from lying up when there is nothing or little the matter with 
them. Such persons must be turned out immediately; and those 
somewhat sick can do lighter work, which encourages industry. 
Nothing is so subversive of discipline, or so unjust, as to allow people 
to sham, for this causes the well-disposed to do the work of the lazy. 

“Live Stock. — One man is to be put to take care of all the oxen; 
he will do only half-task ploughing, and will be responsible for them. 
The Overseer must see them well provided with straw, tailing, and 
coarse flour. The ploughing and carting tasks will be regulated by the 
appearance of the oxen. It is better to be a fortnight later in work, 
and have cattle in good order, than to kill any of them. 


[ 29 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


“Mules should also be under the care of one person all the year 
round, who shall be responsible for them. Their ordinary food shall 
be flour and tailing cut up, and during hard work, corn; crab grass cut, 
with straw and flour, is also a good food. In summer they must be 
turned out on the marsh, when not in use. No mule must ever be 
worked with a gall; on the first appearance of one, the man in charge 
must inform the Overseer. It must be recollected, that it is easy to 
keep an animal once fat in good condition, but extremely difficult to 
get one into condition who is worked down. 

“The harness, chains, yokes, ploughs, &c., should always be kept 
under cover, as well as the carts and wagons. The stables and ox- 
houses should be cleaned out every week, and the oxen and mules 
cleaned down every evening. No animal can do well whose skin is 
covered with dirt. 

“THrRESHING, &c., Macuinery. — The mill is to be closed in time 
to allow the whole yard to be cleaned up by sunset. The Proprietor 
considers an Overseer who leaves any straw or tailing during the night 
within 300 yards of the mill, as unfit to be trusted with the care of 
valuable property. He should keep a constant and vigilant inspec- 
tion on the machinery, to see that no part of it heats; he should also 
stay in the yard whilst threshing, and not leave the keys to the drivers. 
As soon as the people come in, in the morning, the barn-yard doors 
should be locked, and not be opened again until work is over, except 
to admit the meals, and the suckling children. As soon as anything 
goes wrong in the mill, or other machinery, Mr...______ res) 
should be informed of it. 


G, DUTIES OF OFFICIALS 


“Drivers are, under the Overseer, to maintain discipline and order 
on the place. They are to be responsible for the quiet of the negro- 
houses, for the proper performance of tasks, for bringing out the 
people early in the morning, and generally for the immediate inspec- 
tion of such things as the Overseer only generally superintends. For 
other duties of Drivers, see article Worx. 

“WaTCHMEN are to be responsible for the safety of the buildings, 
boats, flats, and fences, and that no cattle or hogs come inside the 
place. If he perceives any buildings or fences out of repair, or if he 


[ 30 ] 


Terms of the Overseer’s Contract 


hears of any robberies or trespasses, he must immediately give the 
Overseer notice. He must help to kill hogs and beeves. 

“TrunkK-Minpers undertake the whole care of the trunks, under 
the Proprietor’s and Overseer’s directions. Each has a boat to him- 
self, which he must on no account let any body else use. 

“Nurses are to take care of the sick, and to be responsible for the 
fulfilment of the orders of the Overseer, or Doctor, (if he be in at- 
tendance.) The food of the sick will be under their charge. They 
are expected to keep the hospital floors, bedding, blankets, utensils, 
&c., in perfect cleanliness. Wood should be allowed them. Their 
assistants should be entirely under their control. When the Pro- 
prietor and Overseer are absent, and a serious case occurs, the nurse 
is to send for the Doctor. 

“Yarp WaTcHMAN is responsible for the crop in the yard, and for 
the barns. 

“Cooxs take every day the provisions for all the people, the sick 
only excepted, (see article Allowance.) The Overseer is particularly 
requested to see that they cook cleanly and well. One cook cooks on 
the Island, the other on the Main, for the carpenters, millers, high- 
land hands, &c. 

“The child’s cook cooks for the children at the negro-houses; she 
ought to be particularly looked after, so that children should not eat 
anything unwholesome. 


MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS 


“The Proprietor wishes particularly to impress on the Overseer the 
criterions by which he will judge of his usefulness and capacity. 
First — by the general well being of the negroes; their cleanly appear- 
ance, respectful manners, active and vigorous obedience; their com- 
pletion of their tasks well and early; the small amount of punishment; 
the excess of births over deaths; the small number of persons in hos- 
pitals, and the health of the children. Secondly —the condition and 
fatness of the cattle and mules; the good repair of all the fences and 
buildings, harness, boats, flats, and ploughs; more particularly the 
good order of the banks and trunks, and the freedom of the fields 
from grass and volunteer. Thirdly —the amount and quality of the 
rice and provision crops. The Overseer will fill up the printed forms 


[31 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


sent to him every week, from which the Proprietor will obtain most of 
the facts he desires, to form the estimate mentioned above. 

“The Overseer is expressly prohibited from three things, viz.: 
bleeding, giving spirits to any negro without a Doctor’s order, and- 
letting any negro on the place have or keep any gun, powder, or shot. 

“When carpenters’ work is wanted, the Overseer must apply in 
WUT REUIIE CO Dyn 2 Sh AUNT eS a Miller. 

“When the Overseer wishes to leave the plantation for more than 
a few hours, he must inform the Proprietor, (if he is in the Parish.) 

“Whenever a negro is taken seriously ill, or any epidemic makes its 
appearance, or any death or serious accident occurs, the Proprietor 
(if in the Parish) must be immediately informed, as well as of any 
serious insubordination or breach of discipline. 

“No gardens, fowl-houses, or hog-pens, are allowed near the house; 
a space will be fenced out for these purposes, and they will be under 
the charge of the watchman. 

“No trees are to be cut down within 200 yards on each side of the 
houses. 

“Women with six children alive at any one time, are allowed all 
Saturday to themselves. 

“Fighting, particularly amongst women, and obscene or abusive 
language, is to be always rigorously punished. 

“During the summer, fresh spring water must be carried every day 


on the Island. Anybody found drinking ditch or river water must be 
punished. 


“Finally. — The Proprietor hopes the Overseer will remember that 
a system of strict justice is necessary to good management. No per- 
‘son should ever be allowed to break a law without being punished, or 
any person punished who has not broken a well known law. Every 
person should be made perfectly to understand what they are pun- 
ished for, and should be made to perceive that they are not punished 
in anger, or through caprice. All abusive language or violence of 
demeanor should be avoided: they reduce the man who uses them to 
a level with the negro, and are hardly ever forgotten by those to 
whom they are addressed. 

Hagley 
PLowpen C. J. Weston.” 


[ 32 ] 


Terms of the Overseer’s Contract 


By the side of this paper I am able to place the following 
contract in what was no doubt the more usual form of such 
documents. It was made by George Jones, of Savannah, 
Georgia, and applied to one of his two plantations near Tal- 
lahassee, Florida.’ It reads as follows: 


This agreement made and entered into this twenty fourth day of 
December in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and Forty nine 
Between George Jones of the first part and Jesse W. Whatley of the 
second part Witnesses that the said Jesse W. Whatley for and in con- 
sideration of the sum of one dollar to him in hand paid by the said 
George Jones the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged and also in 
consideration of the Covenants and agreement hereinafter contained 
agrees to oversee and manage the plantation of the said George Jones 
situated in Leon County State of Florida and known by the name of 
Cheemoonie for and during the term of one year from date, that is to 
say, until the twenty fourth day of December eighteen hundred and 
fifty unless sooner discharged. To take care of the Negroes on the 
said plantation in sickness and in health and to treat them with hu- 
manity, to obey the lawful instructions of the said George Jones his 
agent or agents and generally to do and perform all acts usually re- 
quired of a faithful overseer. And in consideration of the premises 
aforesaid George Jones agrees to pay Jesse W. Whatley at the end of 
the year aforesaid, That is to say on the twenty fourth day of De- 
cember eighteen hundred and Fifty the sum of Four hundred dollars 
or at that rate for a less time, viz. at the rate of thirty three dollars and 
thirty three cents a month if the said George Jones should wish to 
terminate this agreement before the end of the year aforesaid. George 
Jones also agrees to furnish the said Jesse W. Whatley with a woman 
to cook and wash, Corn and fodder for one horse and bread and meat 
sufficient for his own use and such as the plantation affords. 

In witness whereof the parties to these presents have hereunto set 
their hands and seals the day and year first above written. 


Jesse WHATLEY 
GeorcE JONES 
1 The original is in the possession of Mr. J. C. Yonge, Tallahassee, Florida. 


[ 33 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


It is understood between the parties to the above agreement that if 
John Evans should prefer to remain on the Chemoonie Plantation 
then the said Jesse W. Whatley will take charge of George Jones’ El 
Destino plantation in Jefferson County, Florida, upon the same terms 
as he has agreed to oversee the Chemoonie Plantation and George 
Jones agrees to pay him the same wages and grants to him the same 
privileges.+ 

Jesse WHATLEY 
Gero. JoNEsS 


In the same collection which contains this contract is an- 
other, made for one of the George N. Jones plantations for 
the year 1879. Itis interesting as showing the terms on which 
overseers were employed after the civil war. It provided 
that the overseer, James S. Curry, should receive for his 
services $400 in money, the feed of one horse, and 500 
pounds of bacon or “its equivalent for the whole year and 
likewise bread for his family,” which was not much unlike 
the remuneration of ante-bellum days. Curry on his part 
agreed to discharge faithfully the duties of an overseer, to 
refrain from trading with the laborers, to refrain from 
leaving the place “except under urgent circumstances,” and 
not to raise poultry for sale. He agreed to give his whole 
time to the duties of his office and not to “make a practice 
of receiving visitors.” It thus seems that the fall of slavery 
made little difference in the wages, treatment, and ordinary 
duties of an overseer on a Georgia plantation. It created, 
however, a tendency to subdivide the large holdings of land 
and thus to establish the cropping system ; and both of these 
developments tended to make the overseer unnecessary. 

1 Indorsements on the contract show that Jones paid $400, the amount in full of 
the wages specified, on December 24, 1850, and that the contract was renewed on the 


same day for the following year on the same terms. Another entry shows that on 
May 30, 1851, Jones paid Whatley $25 “for the use of the plantation.” ; 


[ 34 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAP EE Re iv 


The Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


~ ten by overseers on two plantations owned 


United States. Simple as they were they 
were filed by Polk in his well preserved cor- 

SSA respondence and are now in the Polk Pa- 
- pers in the Library of Congress. It would be agreeable to 
suppose that Polk had some realization of the service he 
rendered to future students of our social history in saving 
letters of a class of men who wrote very badly and whose 
letters were so slightly esteemed that few specimens have 
been preserved. But there is no reason to suppose that Polk 
knew how important these letters might become. Saving 
them seems to have been but the result of habit. Polk had 
an honest, efficient, routine mind to which small things 
were as important as large things. His overseer letters had 
their place in his files as truly as his correspondence with 
important political leaders. 

Polks ancestry, Scotch-Irishmen, settled in Mecklenburg 
County, North Carolina, before the be eginning of the war 
for independence. One of the family, Colonel Thomas Polk, 
was a leader in the revolution and was associated with the 
men of Mecklenburg who voted for the celebrated resolu- 
tions of May 31, 1775, which went far in disputing the au- 
thority of the king. Colonel Polk’s brother, Ezekiel, was an 
early associate in the same movement, but when Cornwallis 


[35 ] 


Y) by James K. Polk, eleventh president of the . 


a {I 


The Plantation Overseer 


appeared in 1780 Ezekiel swore loyalty to the king and 
thus saved his considerable estate from confiscation. Many 
of his neighbors did likewise. About 1800 he became dis- 
satisfied with Mecklenburg and turned his _eyes_westward. 
Looking around for fields of speculation he became inter- 
ested in Tennessee lands. He bought claims in the fertile 
region south of Duck River, then allotted to the Cherokees ; 
but when the Indians ceded it to the federal government in 
1806 his claims became realities and he moved to his newly 
acquired possession in the same year. The state set up a 
new county, calling it Maury, with the court house at Co- 
lumbus, forty miles south of Nashville. Here Ezekiel Polk 
lived in high esteem until he died in 1824. 

Accompanying him when he moved to Tennessee was his 
son Samuel, with his wife and small children. Samuel was 
a surveyor and like most other surveyors had an eye 
for good land. He arrived in Maury the year it was set up 
as a county. He acquired many_a fine acre for a song and as 
the country grew in population his lands grew in value. 
When he died in 1827 he left a fair estate to be divided 
among nine children, or their heirs; for some of them had 
preceded him to the grave. His eldest son, James Knox 
Polk, he made one of the executors and the guardian of 
some of the minor children and grandchildren. This eldest 
son was then a lawyer in Columbia, a hardworking, reli- 
able, and industrious man by ee no task was ever as- 
sumed without careful and conscientious execution. 

For the guidance of the reader of the letters that follow it 
will be well to say that one of Polk’s sisters was married to 
James Walker, who long had a stage route with contracts to 
carry the mails, another to Dr. Silas M. Caldwell, who 
seems to have been more of’a planter than a physician, and 


[ 36 ] 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


another to A.O. Harris. They all lived in Columbia. It will 
be seen that Polk transacted business with most of these 
relatives, and it is not always possible to tell whether a 
particular action was taken by him for himself or as acting 
for a ward. For example, some of the slaves mentioned in 
the correspondence as his were in reality the property of 
one of his wards, and they were only in his hands as guard- 
ian. 

The management of this property in trust has a peculiar 
interest. It was, naturally, mostly in the form of land and 
slaves. To place the slaves on the land and carry on farm- 
ing operations demanded much time from the guardian, 
and Polk, who was ever in politics, had little leisure for it. 
The method followed was to get a court of chancery, after 
allotting the slaves to the heirs on a basis of equitable di- 
vision, to consent that they might be hired out for the 
benefit of the particular heirs to whom they had been al- 
lotted. Some of them Polk hired himself, with the ap- 
proval of the court. It was characteristic of the South in 
the era of slavery that almost the only opportunity for the|| 
investment of money was in land and nd slaves. Few corpora- 
tions existed and of those that did exist not many were so 
sound that their shares and bonds were good investments. 
Inherited property, if not in the form of slaves and land 
when inherited, could hardly be invested in anything else. 

When Samuel Polk was acquiring his large property in 
land the Chickasaw Indians held the part of Tennessee that 
lay west of the Tennessee River. In 1818 by treaty they 
ceded this territory to the whites. Much of it had already 
been disposed of by the Indians in what was known as 
- “floats,” grants made by them very cheaply, the grantees 
taking chances to get their bargains confirmed by the fed- 


E37 


The Plantation Overseer 


eral government after a treaty had been made. “Floats” 
were not worth anything against the government; but on a 
frontier filled with men who held them it was not the cus- 
tom to dispute their validity, and it rarely happened that 
he who held one had a competitor when he made his bar- 
gain with the government land office. Samuel Polk got 
much of the land in this cession, which became known lo- 
cally as the Western District, shortened to “The District.” 
When he died in 1827 he still held a considerable portion of 
such land, waiting for the price to rise with the increase of 
population, and these scattered holdings were distributed 
among the heirs, thus coming to some extent under the _ 
direction of James Knox Polk, trustee. 

On one of these tracts this story opened in 1833. It lay 
in Fayette County not far from the town of Somerville. 
Fayette is in the southern tier of counties in southwest Ten- 
nessee and on the west joins Tipton, in which is the city of 
Memphis, the market for the produce of a wide region. In 
1833 Polk and his brother-in-law, Dr. Silas M. Caldwell, 
were conducting farming operations on two of these tracts, 
raising cotton, hauling it to Memphis for sale. The opera- 
tions of the overseers on the two places were directed by . 
means of infrequent visits made by Dr. Caldwell. 

_ By the prevailing standards Polk’s plantation was not a _ 
large plantation. In 1833 it “made” 25 bales of cotton 
averaging 489 pounds each. The corn raised was so little 
that it was necessary to kill the hogs in December before 
they were fat, and the yield in bacon was only 4,000 pounds. 
When the place was sold a year later the supplies and cattle 
included 13 plows, 29 sheep and goats, and 9 cows, besides 
22 calves and “young cattle.” I have no way of knowing 
the acreage, and I can only guess at the number of slaves on 


[ 38 ] 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


it, making it not more than twenty-five, male and female, 
young and old. While Polk conducted this plantation in 
1833, Dr. Caldwell carried on operations on a place he 
owned in the adjoining county of Haywood. There is some 
reason to believe that Polk began his operations on the 
_ Fayette County place with the year 1833, though on that 
point the evidence is not conclusive. 

When we get our first glimpse of the plantation it was 
under the care of Ephraim Beanland, overseer, who was a 
young man and unmarried. A tradition in his family says 
that he was born in England, but his style of expressing 
himself and his illiteracy were so much like those prevail- 
ing among the poorer whites of the South that I cannot be 
satisfied with the statement. My doubt is strengthened by 
the fact that he had a younger brother named Jefferson, 
which does not sound like English birth or early associa- 
tion. He received wages of $350 a year and conducted the 
place with fair efficiency. He did not have the confidence of 
Dr. Caldwell, who was a temperamental man and hard to 
please. Of all the overseers who fall into these pages he was 
the most picturesque and the man who makes the strongest 
appeal to my sympathy. He seems to have entered Polk’s 
service late in 1833, taking the place of another overseer, 
the cause of whose departure from the plantation is not re- 
vealed. 

The F ayette County plantation was not very successful. 
In 1834 it gave its owner 39 bales of cotton from 85 acres, 
which was small return for the time and labor involved. It 
happened at that time that the Tennesseeans were being 
swept away in a tide of enthusiasm for establishing planta- 
tions in Mississippi where much of the land was very fer- 
tile. Persons traveling through the settlements painted al- 


[39 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


luring pictures of the country to the southward, and_ Polk 
yielded to the temptation. He entered into partnership 
with Dr. Caldwell for the purchase of a plantation in Mis- 
sissippi. For that purpose he authorized James Brown, who 
seems to have been a land agent, to go to Mississippi and buy 
a tract of land for the partners. “I am determined to make 
more money or lose more,” said Polk. In 1832-1833 cotton 
sold in Nashville for about 9 cents a pound. In the season 
of 1833-1834 it began at 10 cents and went up to 15. With 
this staple rising so rapidly the popular mind was filled with 
hopes of great wealth in the rich country where it was said 
to be possible to produce a bale, or more, on an acre. The 
dream had a disastrous ending in the panic of 1837. 

The Fayette plantation brought $6,000, probably sold on 
the usual terms of three or four annual payments. The new 
place was to be bought on the same terms. It was charac- 
teristic of the times to buy and sell for part cash and part in 
deferred payments. It was also characteristic of the ad- 
venturers to buy land with the hope of making the land 
yield, above expenses, enough profit to meet the deferred 
payments as they fell due and thus to pay off the purchase 
obligation in the time allowed out of the proceeds of the 
investment. Probably the hope was as often defeated as 
fulfilled, but it shows to what rates of progress the men 
settling this large region were accustomed in building up 
their fortunes. 

Polk and Caldwell decided to take Beanland to Missis- 
SIppi as their overseer, and it was agreed that each should 
furnish his fair portion of the hands needed to work the 
place. Caldwell was to give the enterprise as much personal 
supervision as possible_by. visiting it at periods, and one of 
their Tennessee friends in Mississippi was appointed the 


[40] . 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


local representative of the proprietors. He promised to aid 
the overseer with advice in emergency and to keep a gener- 
al watch over the progress of the enterprise. 

Buying the place in the new country did not prove as easy 
as was anticipated. James Brown, the agent, disappeared 
in the South leaving high expectations behind him. After a 
long wait there came from him a letter dated “Chickasaw 
Nation, November 4, 1834,” which cooled to some extent 
the hopes of the partners; but it is extremely interesting 
to us because it shows the actual process of taking up land 
and trading in it, and settling upon it, on the frontier in the 
flush days of the early Southwest. The text of the letter is 
as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I wrote you a short time since that I expected to buy 
a tract of land on Tellatoby for you. I have since then ex- 
amined the land and find it not to come up to the descrip- 
tion given of it. I can enter land at government price that I 
would as leave have. | find it all most impossible to find a 
tract of land that would suite you, that can be bought, in 
fact such places are very scears, and when I find the body 
of land, I cant find the owner, and most generally the good 
lands are owned in small parcels and by speculators, that 
are non-resident and have no agents in the country. I shall 
be at the land sales first Monday in December, where it is 
likely that I shall see the most of them and will I think be 
able to get a tract to my notion. 

I have bought a section and a half of land of a Chickasaw 
lying on the Yocknepetauphy, but the title to it is as yet 
uncertain. But if I can get the title complete in time and 
-can do no better for you, I will let you have it so that vou 


[ae 


The Plantation Overseer 


will be certain of a place. It is a most beautifull lying tract, 
has good water, a handsome situation to build, a fine run- 
ning small creek on one line, 500 acres of the 640 tilable 
that lies well, but it is not quite as rich as I should like to 
get for you tho it is good second rate. The growth is a vari- 
ety of oak, hickory, dogwood, etc. It is very handsome land 
and very easy cleared. Hands to be on the place by Ist 
December could clear as much land by planting time as 
they could cultivate. It has two or three small cabins, and 
20 acres of cleared land. When I have a place certain I will 
wright Beanland at Somerville where it is, how to get to 
it, etc. Corn will cost about 75 cents per bushel. There 
is plenty in the country for sale hoping that I shall get a 
place to suite my own views before I va you agane I 


remain 
Yours truly 


N. B. Sales of Chickasaw land are not yet to be relyed 
on, as they have not yet got the certificates authorizing 
them to trade nor have they yet got the entrys made. I think 
about the 1st of December will bring about some certainty 
as to the lands. Speculation runns high. I have not been 
able to stand the prices offered for some of these lands. If I 
trade with them I must make a profit on the land. The 640 
I bought cost $2000 the section. The ™% section not being 
located cost me $500. I think the trade I have made will be 
confirmed. 


James Brown proved a broken reed. He was buying land 
for himself, expecting to sell it at an advance; and he did 
not find more bargains than he was willing to take for him- 
self. Dr. Caldwell, who was inclined to run to suspicion, 
believed that the agent would delay until the partners would 


[ 42 ] 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


have to take some of Brown’s own lands, paying him a 
ha ndsome profit on them. The doctor, who did not number 
state of affairs than he set out for Mississippi himself. The 
results of his search are told in the following letter to Polk, 
written from the Fayette County plantation, January 2, 


1835: 


DEar sIR: 

I returned from Mississippi a few days since after a 
long laborious trip of four weeks I met with James Brown 
at Chocchuma’ he had not Bot a plantation nor did he 
know of any. I went below there fifty miles down the Ya- 
zoo River, a fine country of Land but very high and very 
sickly returned followed Brown about a week, quit him and 
in a day or two found a tract of Land in Yella Busha Coun- 
ty near the river Yella Busha. then had to go to Manches- 
ter to find the owner the distance 220 miles from Choc- 
chuma I gave Ten Dollars pr. acre I Bot 880 acres, pay- 
ments one-third down the Balance in two equal annual 
payments there is no improvement on it. 

The distance from the state line is about 100 miles south 
there is a fine spring on it it is a splendid tract of Land said 
to be among the best tracts in the county Brown had been 
on the land and it could have been bot at that time for 
$5000 cash Land is rising in that county very fast Small 
Steam Boats run the Yella Busha River in the Winter with- 
in 10 Miles of where I will settle By hauling 40 Miles we 
get to the Yazoo River which is large enough for large 
Steam Boats at the Junction of the Yella Busha and Talla- 
hatcha Rivers. I think where I will settle we can make 


1 The government land office was at Chocchuma. 


[ 43 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


from 12 to 15-Hundred pounds of cotton to the acre* the 
prospect of health is good I selected a place where I thot 
the cotton crop would be a certain one and a prospect of 
health. 

Beanland has got your crop out he made 39 Bales of cot- 
ton 33 of them at Memphis 3 at home 3 at Colo. Alex- 
anders within 12 Miles of Memphis all of which I have di- 
rected to [be] sent there as soon as practicable the roads 
are very bad at this time Your Corn Fodder Cattle Hogs 
and other articles we let Bookers overseer have amounted 
to $809.25 the hire of Bookers hands amounted to $86 
which left a Balance of $723.25.” 

We leave this in morning for Mississippi with the follow- 
ing negroes Reuben, Caesar, Phil, Addison, Abram, Giles, 
Elizabeth, old Sarah, and the girl you Bot. of Gregory, 
Wally, Gilbert, Harvey, Alfred, Jane, Patsey, Marino, John, 
and a little boy Henry, in all Eighteen. Your Boy Hardy is 
not able to go he has had a breast complaint about five 
months, has a very violent cough. I will leave him at my 
place with Jones I think his recovery very doubtful indeed 
it will take the Balance to cultivate my farm one of my 
women Judy I will loose in a day or two I think the smith 

tools have not come to Memphis yet we will not be able to 
take them with us which will be a very serious disappoint- 
ment I will write to Lawrence and Davis of Memphis, to 
send them to some point, on the Yella Busha River when 
he receives them. My corn cost me 663 cents pr. Bushel, the 
150 Barrels, $500 

We have a desperate time to move, mud and high waters, 
now raining, the first payment for the Land and corn cost 


1 This was doubtless unginned cotton. The rule in the South is to expect seed 
cotton to yield one-third its weight in ginned cotton. 
2 Polk’s Fayette plantation had been sold to Booker. 


[ 44 ] 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


near $3500 Cash, which has taken all my money. Write to 
me who you Bot the Smith tools of in Nashville perhaps 
they have not shipped them to Memphis yet. Beanland 
only collected the sixty two dollar note from Silliman could 
not get the other discounted. I shall make 39 or 40 Bales of 
Cotton and about 400 Barrels of corn. Bookers overseer 
took all the Ploughs, Harrows, Hogs, etc., in payment for 
the hire of the hands. I have recd no letter from you yet. | 
expect to return to the District about the first of February 
after you receive this write to me at Columbia. I will write 
to you after I get to Mississippi. I procured some cotton 
seed when I was down. I shall put in what corn I think will 
do us and plant as much cotton as | can Cotton does tol- 
erable well the first year. 12 O’clock and I am sleepy. Very 
respectfully, etc. Beanland is married 


Records preserved in the office of the Register of deeds 
of Yalabusha County, Mississippi, show that the land 
bought by Polk and Caldwell comprised two grants by the 
state to Edward C. Wilkinson, October 31, 1833, and one 
grant by the state to S. M. Caldwell, December 19, 1834. 
To these was added another grant by the state to James K. 
Polk, December 5, 1842. The history of this plantation as 
shown in these records is that Caldwell sold his share of the 
estate to James K. and William H. Polk September 4, 1836. 
Since he had held one-half, it resulted that one-half of his 
half went by his transfer to each of these grantees, so that 
James K. Polk now held three-fourths of the plantation and 
William H. Polk held one-fourth. Edward C. Wilkinson 
gave a warranty deed to J. K. and W. H. Polk October 15, 
1838, which seems to show that it was only at that time that 
the Polks had completed payment. W. H. Polk sold his 
fourth to J. K. Polk by a warranty deed of November 3, 


[45 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


1838. The property went after J. K. Polk’s death to his 
widow, Mrs. Sarah Childress Polk, who sold it to James 
M. Avent January 25, 1860. After that it passed through 
several hands and at present (1925) is the property of Mr. 
C. V. Beadles of Coffeeville, Mississippi.* 

As a by-product of his exertions Dr. Caldwell became in- 
terested in “floats” while in Mississippi and thought to do 
something in that line, if he could get inside information 
from his friend Polk, who at that time was speaker of the 
house of representatives and in a position to do a stroke of 
business for a friend, and for himself, if so inclined. Ac- 
cordingly, after his return to Tennessee Dr. Caldwell made 
the following inquiry of Polk in a letter dated February 13, 
1835: 


Dear sir: 

Nothing has transpired since I wrote to you. in that 
Letter I intended to have Requested you [to] ascertain if 
you could how the Lands belonging to the Chickasaw In- 
dians To wit (the Reserves and Floats, as they are called) 
will be disposed of There was some provisions made in the 
Treaty for Indians who were not competent to transact their 
own business. There are a great many persons among the 
Andians buying their Reserves and Floats One Indian will 
sell his Reserve perhaps to 8 or 10 persons Now which of 
the purchasers will get the Land perhaps the Second pur- 
chaser will agree to pay Double what the first agreed to 
pay. It might be of advantage to you and myself to have 
the necessary information on that subject I dont care about 
the information until you return 


1 For the information in this paragraph the editor is indebted to Mr. H. B. 
Johnson, Deputy Chancery Clerk of Yalobusha County, Coffeeville, Mississippi. 


[ 46 | 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


I understand since I Returned that the B. Smith Tools. 
have been shipped from Nashville to Memphis on the Boat 
Pacific I have not heard from Memphis whether they have 
been received or not. 


Yours Truly 


Having bought the land he liked, Dr. Caldwell lost no 
time in taking thither Beanland and the slaves who were 
expected to reduce it from a state of virgin nature to a thriv- 
ing cotton plantation. In the Polk Papers is the following 
list, probably intended for the slaves furnished by Polk and 
Caldwell for their new venture.’ It refers to none but the 
young and healthy slaves, one of them a blacksmith, and 
it is interesting to notice that Jack, whom Beanland called 
an “old scoundrel,” was not in the group. Beanland 
had acquiesed in the plan to sell him. Ben and Jim also 
were not included, but Hardy and Wally, who had been 
most troublesome runaways, were among them, although 
Hardy, as we have seen, had developed tuberculosis and 
was not taken to Mississippi. The list was as follows: 


Polk’s 

mbes blacksmith —_.___ $1200 Mariah’s child, Henry —...... 200 
Ola SE tes 600 Mariah’s second child —.. 75 
TL? (a ee BECO DCE yr ey eee Tae MRC 450 
PSE | es ee Geo*) 'Hhzabethts:) (oe Ue ee 450 
a 32) Lee IM EOD hy SVEN | ach ns eka Ea ect ate = 1450 
SLES) 2 ee a Goo: t ‘Hive’: child) ie ube eee 75 
D1 <a oy (Goer Darabar) 2 keeles ine ee 300 
0 26S Se ee Goo; . Young: Charles, 25.5.. ) ) '436 
L232) ee 450 


1 This list does not coincide with the list of eighteen given by Dr. Caldwell in his 
letter of January 2, 1835; but some of the slaves he does not mention on the above list 
were later on the plantation and Polk in buying supplies had three dozen hats and 
pairs of shoes sent to the plantation. It is probable that a second group of slaves fol- 
lowed the first to Mississippi. 


[ 47 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


Caldwell’s 
Planvey, coi nes Dama eee $600. Claiborne eee . 400 
Alfred) ute ob RE an i 600. Patsy —_..aeeeeeeee 450 
Gilbert (220) Wis aap nner eae . 600 Jane 22 450 
BV, eUiiyy 20 VAI et 6co Mauria [Marina?] _.... 400 
Pate aN eC 600 Judah eae 450 
Bip Fen Gyo) ct PMP INLD a OREN 6co Judah’s 2 children 22a i geq 
HJ.c es 0 Rae GRO A SIS 500. Sarah ee 450 
Manuel Monroe ................ 450 Sarah’s 2 childtea = eee 75 
INN, (5 1c, SO 8 NOD aE se 450 Henry 22s 350 


The totals of the valuations in each column was $8,025. 
It was agreed that if any of the negroes died in ‘the enter- 
prise the plantation should repay the owner at the prices 
affixed. Nothing was said about fixing the values of chil- 
dren who might be born in either group, but it is likely that 
such increases belonged to the partner owning the mother. 
From the list we see that a young man was valued at $600, 
a young child-bearing woman at $450 and an infant at $75. 

The transfer to Mississippi was made under very difficult 
conditions. The roads were for the most part new_trails 
laid out through the forests and travel was slow and pain- 
ful. The weather was bad and the season was so far ad- 
vanced that it was not possible to halt to escape its inclem- 
ency. Dr. Caldwell may have been crotchety, but he had an 

“indomitable spirit and he urged the slaves on each day as 


Beanland, who was evidently accompanied by his new wife. 
It was rapid journeying taking all things into considera- 
tion. Doctor Caldwell pushed forward the work of build- 


1 Caldwell speaks of repairing the wagon, indicating that Polk had only one. 


[ 48 ] 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


ing houses to cover the eighteen slaves he took with him, 
saw everything stowed in them, gave directions for the con- 
tinuation of operations, and then set out for Columbia, 
Tennessee, where he arrived on February 9, one month and 
a week after he had taken the road at the Fayette County 
plantation. He described all that had been done in the in- 
terval in the following letter to Polk, dated at Columbia, 
February 10, 1835: 


Dear sIR: 


I reached Columbia last night after a three months 
Laborious tour I got to Mississippi with our negroes on the 
10 day of January I remained there Eighteen Days put 
up a house for Beanland four Houses for the negroes a 
Smokehouse and a kitchen and made a lot for out Stock I 
met with no bad luck going down Mr. Beanland is very 
much pleased with his situation, the negroes only tolerably 
well satisfied. 

I gave you a partial description of the Land I will now 
describe it more fully the Land lies in Yella Busha County 
six miles from Yella Busha River on a Creek called Perry’s 
Creek the tract one Mile and a half Long and a Mile wide 
two good springs on it I have not settled at either a great 
portion of the land is fit for cultivation and lies well and I 
think very rich said to be equal if not superior to any tract 
in the County I procured some Cotton Seed some I Bot 
and some | got without Buying directed Beanland to plant 
about 75 acres in corn and all he could in cotton, it does 
very well in that country the first year. 

I have heard not[hing] of the Smith Tools. 

I got Abram in a shop to do some work we needed I sent 
by a waggon to Memphis for the tools and if they are there 


[ 49 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


they will be at the plantation shortly. I wrote to Lawrence 
and Davis to send them if they had got there you requested 
in a letter you wrote me to give the amount of the valuation 
of our property I had left it at home and therefore could 
not do it sooner my property was valued at $1477.42 yours 
at $1331.42 there [are] some other articles sold to Booker 
that are not included in the valuation of your property. 

I have sent by Capt. Lake of Jackson Tennessee to Cin- 
cinatti for 2500 pounds of bacon which heis to deliver within 
six Miles of our farm in March at cost. and two Dollars pr. 
Hundred for carriage therefore you need not buy any for 
us. we drove down with us 2500 pounds of Pork. 

If James Brown had felt as much interest in procuring 
you Land as I expect you did in procuring the Mail Con- 
tract for him and Walker he might have saved us two or 
three thousand Dollars I wrote to you I had no confidence 
in him and [I still have none. I lost while I was down a 
negro woman named Juda and the day I got back to my 
farm in Haywood your Boy Hardy died with a disease of 
the Breast which he has had five or six months. which leaves 
not enough of hands to cultivate the farm in Haywood. It 
will be necessary for you to Buy another hand as soon as 
you can Negroes are very high here I have no money 
to Buy with I drew on Simpson Walker for $150 of your 

“money and will need some more before you return I expect 
the first payment for the land was near $3000, the corn $500 
and Expenses of moving, etc., I paid for you at Somerville 
$170 to A. L. Smith and Cooper and for repairing your wag- 
gon near $30. I think with good management we can make 
money in Mississippi I think we are settled in a good Cot- 
ton Country where in a first rate season we can make a 


[ 50 ] 


Plantation Experience of James K. Polk 


Bale pr. Acre this may be rather extravagant at al events 
we can make money. 


This letter seems rather restrained. In fact the writer’s 
mind was effervescing with dreams of a brilliant future. 
Mrs. Caldwell, his wife, poked fun at him in a letter, Feb- 
ruary 16, 1835, to Mrs. Polk. “The Dr. is rather amusing 
than otherwise,” she said. “Town life is strange to him and 
I amuse myself at him walking in the middle of the street 
up and down the town 20 times a day Says the Yellow 
Busha suits him best by odds tho he has come off it already 
and thinks by the time brother James gets home he will be 
[adlegible| polished It is to be hoped he is in high spirits 
as respects his purchase he thinks he made six thou- 
sand Dollars by the purchase three for you and three for 
himself, if the expenses does not give him the slipper at the 
start.” We shall see later that he became discouraged 
when the crops failed to meet his expectations, with the re- 
sult that he withdrew from the partnership. 


[ 51 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER V 
Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle for Plantation Supremacy 


6 ROM allusions in his letters it seems that 
x Ephraim Beanland assumed control of the 
j) Fayette County plantation late in 1833, 
A taking the place of another overseer who 
had not filled out the term of his contract. 
=sW By his own assertion he found the slaves 
in a state of disorganization. He alleged that their unruli- 
ness was due to the influence of some disorderly white peo- ~ 
ple who lived near the place. No evidence exists to prove or 
disprove the assertion ; but it is certain that he had trouble 
to keep them from running away, that he used stern meas- 
ures to correct their habits, that members of Polk’s family 
in Tennessee, listening to the stories of the slaves, thought 
him too severe, and that he had to make a stiff fight before 
he got Polk to allow him full sway in his attempts to en- 
force obedience. 
_ Dr. Caldwell, who considered himself Polk’s authorized 
agent, A. O. Harris, who did not visit the place but re- 
mained in Columbia whither the runaways were apt to go, 
and James Walker, who, with Harris, had a contract for 
carrying the mails in his stagecoaches, obtained through 
the efforts of Polk, were the three brothers-in-law who in- 
terfered in the matter. They acted from benevolent mo- 
tives, no doubt, but they did not wait to hear the overseer’s 
side, and Polk, who was of a judicious mind, after hearing 
both sides, sustained his overseer. 


[ 52 ] 


Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle 


That Beanland exercised a strict authority over the slaves 
is hardly to be disputed. He worked them hard and was a 
man of ready fist and unwavering courage. He does not 
seem to have tried to rule by stimulating the pride or good 
will of his subjects. He talked plainly to them — the slaves 
said he swore roundly at them, which was not proper in a 
good overseer. But we must admit that he had a hard task 
and was a man who tackled is by the methods he best under- 
stood. He gave his orders and enforced them in the manner 
most familiar to him. 

His trouble at the plantation began late in 1833. Three 
of the slaves fled the place, two going to Columbia. The 
other fled to Memphis, drawn thither it seems, by love of 
town life. Beanland’s story of the situation is contained: in 
a letter to Polk, written from the plantation near Somer- 
ville, December 22, 1833. Incidentally it contains much 
interesting information about the ordinary state of affairs 
on the plantation. It is reproduced here verbatim, in 
order that the reader may have an idea of the mind and 
culture of the man who wrote it. 


DEar sIR: 

Weare all well and lisabeth and mriah [sic] has both 
fine living children, and garisan and the mule has come 
long since, and I am sorry to tell you that Jack and Ben 
hath left the plantation on the 28 of November and I have 
not heard from them since on the night before I was a bail- 
ing until a 11 oclock and Jack went alf and broke into a 
grocery which he was caught and when I was thorely con- 
vinced that it was him | corected_and I corected him for 
telling em 5 or 6 positif lyes and whilste I went to diner they 
boath left the fields and I have not.heard of them since and 


[53 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


sir I dont say that I am able to advise you but I do not want 
any arangements maid for either of them. I want them 
boath brought back if they aint the rest will leave me also I 
have sent to Maury after them by George More ‘if th they are 
theire he will fetch them back and I also I sent Sillva and 
her family to Maury and on crist mas day I am going to see 
George More he is going to be back. 

Dear sir on this day I finished my crop boath corn and 
[c]oten ageathering and on to morow I look for hardy back — 
from Memphis which he carried the last load of your coten 
I have sum repairing to do which it will take me until new- 
ers day and then I shall begin to clear land and on this day 
I sent him Jim to Maury and I want Jack and Ben verry 
much indeade My corn is verry short indeade I have not 
got wan of my cribs full in the shuck and you said sir that - 
you wanted to now how much coten you had in the seede 
I cant tell for sum was so wet and sum days all hands did 
not get 200 hundred pounds but they is wan thing it is all 
gind and it is all in Memphis and I have the receits for it 
and by the last lode which hardy will be back on tomorow 
and sir your negroes has traded with white people and bin 
let run at so loce rained that I must be verry cloce with them 
they is a set of white people that lives cloce hear that would 
spoile any set of negroes 

Dear sir I cant give you the amount of your seede coten 
but I can give you the weiggt of the pict coten and the num- 
bers of every baile an the weights of every baile: 


ANG) (myer Na) 477 No. -6 2 514 
ING 2) tv eke 502 No. 7 484 
Nat gta Pe 438 No. 8 eee 
cae GRIM ea ues ad 581 No. 9 ae 
INS AAD fiked Wee tial Sn 550 No. 10 TT _- a 498 


[ 54 ] 


Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle 


0 ay ST) No. 19 458 
ieee |. KO Pigeon 
eee 8 £70 Ge cE eG mee 
ree 4 BO 1 ie ln a ed a RY S55 
3. 1 Se INOS a2 WAT BOY 
re To) Nee ig cs ee 
_ 0. eet. IN@say su ea toe 
(2 (a _— 444 


On last munday I cilled my hogs. my corn was so scearse 
that I could not feede them any longer which they was 4000 
weight of it undly it was not verry fat the reason of it I had 
not corn to ceap it and sir Dr Edwards caime the other day 
and wanted me to settle his bill against the plantation 
which it was $34 and sum sence and [| tolde him that I 
cold not but I told him that I would let you [know] about 
the mater he is A going to moove away and he wants it set- 
tled before he goes Nothing more but remaining your re- 
spected friend. 


The other side of the matter is to be gathered from a let- 
ter to Polk written by A.O. Harris from Columbia, Decem- 
ber 30, 1833. It rests upon statements made by the runa- 
way slaves themselves and must be received with some cau- 
tion. Even if they did not consciously exaggerate the se- 
verity of Beanland’s punishment, we must admit that they 
were in a state of high excitement in reference to the occur- 
rence and for that reason not able to tell a judicious story 
about it. The letter is as follows: 


My DEar sIR: 

You have no doubt been advised by Mr. Beanland 
that Jack and Ben had runaway from your plantation in 
the District, the cause, etc. I can give you no information 
on the subject further than I have collected from the ne- 


[55 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


groes Ben and Jim, who a few days ago arrived here. They 
say that Jack was very badly whip’d indeed, that Beanland 
salted him four or five times during the whipping, that Ben 
was also whip’d but not so badly. How much of this is true 
I cannot undertake to say, but as highly as I approved of 
your choice in the selection of an overseer, I am very much 
afraid that he will not treat your negroes as you would wish. 
As to his other qualifications, there will probably be no ob- 
jection. 

Ben and Jim are both here and both wish to ps here. 
Ben will not go back. He says he relys on your promise of 
keeping him here, of selling him or hireing him in this coun- 
- ty. He is afraid if he goes back of being whip’d for running 
away and says that he cannot live with Mr. Beanland. Jim 
says that Beanland is very severe, that he gives them no en- 
couragement, that if they exert themselves to please him 
they get nothing but curses for it, and on the whole they 
give a gloomy account of things. 

I do not know what to do with them. Mr. Walker could 
not make the exchange you wished. I cannot exchange Ben 
for a hand to go to the District in his place. Skipwith will 
hire Jim and will probably give me a hand in his place. 
What I shall do with them finally I do not exactly know, 
but will do the best I can and will let you know in a few 
days. 

All well. Very truly yours. 


January 3, 1834, Harris wrote again telling Polk what he 
had done with these runaways. He said: 


My DEAR SIR: . 
I have made such a disposition of your boys Ben and 
Jim as will I hope be satisfactory. At all events it was the 


[ 56 ] 


Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle 


best I could do under the circumstances. Ben had resolved 
that he would not go back to Mr. Beanland again, and no 
inducement that we could offer him appeared to have any 
effect in changing his determination, and sooner than send 
him back confined (where he would not have staid perhaps 
if we had got him there) I have hired him at the Iron Works 
at $100 per year and have written to Mr. Beanland to hire 
a hand in his place, even if he has to give $100, and have 
but little doubt he will be able to get a good hand at 80 or 
go$. I have agreed that he shall come up when you return 
and you are at liberty to take him at that time or let him 
continue at the works the year out. Jim has consented to 
return to the plantation until your return and has gone 
back. Beanland has very probably been too severe, but Mr. 
Walker, when he visits the District, will, I presume, go to 
your place and set all things right. Bills’ in a letter to Mr. 
Walker of the 30th ulto. says that “Chunky Jack” has not 
yet been heard from. I hope all things may get right after 
a little and that you may receive no more such crocking 
epistles as the last two or three that I have written to vou. 


Dr. Caldwell added to the story in the following letter, 
written from Polk’s Fayette County Plantation, January 
4, 1834, as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I am now sitting at the fire at your plantation. I 
reached this place on yesterday evening and regret very 
much I am not able to give as much information about 
your business here as should wish. You, I suppose, have 
heard before this that Jack and Ben had run away from 


1 Major John H. Bills of Bolivar, Tenn. 


[57] 


The Plantation Overseer 


your farm. Two or three days since a man by the name of 
Hughs who was in pursuit of some men who had stolen a 
negro on the Mississippi River stopped at a Hut on the bank 
of the river to make some enquiry. Whilst there two white 
men and Jack came up to the house to make some enquiry 
about the same men that Hughs was. That circumstance 
gave rise to suspicion and they having Jack chained Hughs 
judged they had stolen Jack and that the other men were 
partners of theirs, took the white men and Jack and put 
them all in jail in St. Helena, in Arkansas Territory, about 
. 80 miles below Memphis. Jack confessed they had stolen him 
at Memphis and that he belonged to William Polk and was 
hired at your farm. They all were going down the river in 
a scift. He caught them 150 miles below Memphis. They 
were going to the province of Texas. Hughs got on a steam- 
boat, came to Memphis, from there here, and up to George 
Moore’s. I got George to come,down and him and Bean- 
land started the eveng. I got here after Jack. Hughs says 
it requires two to prove property in Arkansas. In conse- 
quence of that I had no time to chat with Beanland. 

Mr. Hughes charge for apprehending Jack and expenses 
is about $140. I refused to pay that amount but authorized 
George if he got Jack to pay him $100 which I tho’t a fair 
compensation. I also directed George to sell Jack there if 
he could get a fair price for him. If he bro’t him back to 
take him up to his house and let you have a hand in his 
place, which he will do. I expect he will not stay here. Ben 
is in Maury and refuses to come back. If Jim is not ex- 
changed he will return. I wrote today to Harris to iron Ben 
and send him back (Benis a bad boy). Your negroes here are 
very much dissatisfied. I believe I have got them quieted. 
Some others spoke of running away. Harris wrote to Bean- 


[ 58 ] 


Ephraim Beanlana’s Struggle 


land to hire a hand down here in the place of Ben. I judge 
from that he is not to be sent back. I told Mr. Parker today 
to hire one if he could. Harris authorized Beanland to give 
$100. I directed Parker to give that if not for less...... 


Beanland has got your crop gathered: made 25 bales of 
cotton, has about one of the cribs full of corn in the shuck, 
about 4 stacks of fodder, killed 4000 pounds of pork. 
He will need at least 50 barrels corn. It is worth $2.50 pr. 
barrel. I know of none for sale in the neighborhood nor has 
he money to buy with. I expect I shall have some to spare. 
I will know by April. Beanland has just commenced his 
new ground. I can’t tell how he will do but I am fearfull 
not quite as well as you expected. I think he lacks stability. 
I think he has got along badly with the negroes. The ne- 
groes say he likes his liquor, but let that rest as negro news. 
If itis the fact it will appear. Elizabeth’s child died last night. 
She smothered it somehow. No person knew it was dead 
until this morning. It was a very fine child born the day 
you and me left this. I had it buried today. Maria has a 
fine boy about one month old. I bo’t you a very fine mule 
and bro’t down with me. I gave $100 for it out of a drove. 
Your stock looks very well here. Your negroes have plenty 
of milk. I think if Beanland would be more mild with the 
negroes he would get along with them better, tho’ I don’t 
know this from observation. I shall leave this in the morn- 
ing for my farm. Any information I can [get] from your 
farm at any time I [shall] give it to you. Write me as soon 
as you receive this. Very respectfully your friend, etc. | 


Beanland’s statement of the expenses incurred in recov- 
ering Jack and taking him home to Fayette County from 
the jail in Helena, Arkansas, is an interesting document. 


[59 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


It reveals the simple directness of the man’s mind and 
shows us, incidentally, how closely the agents of the law 
fastened on the opportunity to make a slaveowner pay well _ 


for the recovery of a slave. The statement is dated Jan- 
uary 3, 1834, and is as follows: 


Expenses INCURRED IN THE RECOVERY OF SLAVES! 


Expensis going to the arcensis and back January 3, 1834 


At hals in Sumerville _..._.___ aaa $ 1.62% 
pasage by stage to Memphis, 3 fares eee 8.75 
Hus? bill of faire at the first stand _... eee 1.12% 
Hus bill of faire in rally. 1.12% 
Hus passage by steam bote from memphis to 

healeney | _ 15.00 
Jaile fease and balcksmiths acount — 11.86 
The first nite at Clarksvill __._ ee 75 
And on monday bill of feriage ee 1.75 
And on, tusday bill of feriage See 1.75 
And on wensday bill of feriage __..._ > eee 
And Jacks tavern bill 2. a 75 
And the hyring of an yawl __._ . | eee 1.00 
Hus. bill of fair at hermete 2... 2 ee 0.75 
Hus bill at the woad yarde and the race ground... 2.50 
Pasage on steam bote from healeney aup to memphis 18.00 
Hus bill of faire at moshis [?]_.__. eee 00.75 
The hire of horsis at memphis = aa 3 LO 
The hire of 2 mules 1 0) ee 2.00 
Flus bill of faire at.arnets 1.37 
And Hues expenssis 0. he 50.00 


Jack’s bold break for freedom indicated so strong a spirit 
of revolt that Polk’s Columbia advisers were inclined to 
question the wisdom of having him continue a member of 


1 In Beanland’s handwriting. It seems to refer to the expenses of George More 
and himself to Helena, Arkansas, to recover Chunky Jack. 


2 Hughes’. 
[ 60 ] 


Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle 


the slave group on the plantation. They feared that he 
would persist in his defiance and corrupt the minds of the 
other slaves. The man himself, it will be remembered, be- 
longed to Polk’s minor brother, William H. Polk, and was 
held and hired by the elder Polk as guardian for his brother. 
Beanland heard that the relatives advised that Jack should 
be sold and protested against such a course. He wished to 
keep Jack and bring him into a state of obedience as an 
example to the other slaves, a view in which he was sup- 
ported eventually by James Walker. This view prevailed 
with Polk, Jack came back to his fate and continued to 
struggle against the stout will that was placed above him. 
He did not subside readily and in one encounter, as we 
shall see, struck the overseer with a stick which he had con- 
cealed about his person. He struck so hard that the stick 
broke over Beanland’s head but that individual gave blow 
for blow and with the aid of a knife reduced the slave to 
submission. In the end Beanland agreed that Jack should 
“be sold. 


With Jack back from Arkansas Beanland turned with 
equal earnestness to the establishment of his authority over 
Ben and Jim, who, as we have seen, had reached Columbia. 
His demands that they be sent back to him were stated 
with force in the following letter to Polk, dated February 
I, 1834: 

Dear sir: 

Wear all well and I am sorry to informe you that 
Elisabeths childe is dead* and I have got Jack at home I got 
him out of helany jaile in the arcansis which he cost verry 
near $200, and as for ben he went back to Maury and Mr. 


1 Elizabeth’s child died on January 3, which shows that Beanland was slow in 
reporting the occurrence to his employer. 


[ 61 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Haris has sent him to the iron works and I think that haris 
done rong for I ought to af had him hear at the plantation. 
This night I will finish fensing my new ground and leaving 
the work of them to fellews [?] I have not clearde a fot of 
land as yet and they has so much timber fallin in the plan- 
tation that I must go to cleaning up my old land for loosing 
ben it is felt verry sensiable. And when it is so wet that I 
cant werk in the old land I will celar. I now that it will take 
me I month to get the timber of uve the old land and in that 
time I must begin to plant which I do not think that I can 
clearmuch _ 

I have fensed about 65 acres tho you can tell it is 650 wan 
way and 525 the other’ . . . and garisan is a verry waek- 
ly boy and I will take good cear of him. The winter is verry 
harde and colde and my negro shoes is worn out but I am a 
mending them to make them last as long as posseable and 
my dear sir my corn is but little I am oblige to fed it on con- 
sequence of the winter beinge so harde and as for byinge 
corn there is none hear in the neighborhood to sell under $3 
per bariel tho it is cheaper on big hachy but by sowing oats 
and be saving with my corn I want to do without bying as 
little as posiable my stock looks verry bad I shood like for 
you to rite to me and let me now what to do in the respect 
of corn for it is rising daily 

Mr. haris rote to me and dyrected me to hire a fellow in 
bens place and I did not do it because at the hyringe they 
was fellows hyred at $130 and another thing ben ought to 
be brought back to the plantation for he is a grand scoun- 
drel and I do not think that he ought to be befriended in 
any such an maner now if | corect any of the others they ar 


1 Beanland evidently means yards. On that assumption the amount of land 
fenced was 70% acres. 


[ 62 ] 


Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle 


shore to leave me thinking that if they can get back to [sic] 
that will do for they must be youmered to as well as ben 
and sir I do not think any such foolishness as this is write 
for I caime her to make a crop and I am determined on do- 
ing of it and sir on yesterday I seen Dr. Edwards and he 
told me that he was not A going away this year but wold 
still remain in the neighborhood this year if you please rite 
to me and let me now about these fiew things nothing more 
but remaining your respectful 


The arguments in this letter were supported by the writ- 
er in another, written to James Walker, on February 6, 
1834. Walker had objected to the treatment of Ben and 
Jim, but Beanland did not know it. He had favored the 
return of Jack, which probably led the overseer to expect 
similar support with respect of the return of the other run- 
aways. The letter to Walker follows: 


Dear sIR: 

On last weak I got a letter from Co J. K. Polk and 
he stated in his letter that he had ritin to you and had tolde 
you that he wanted ben sent back to the plantation and my 
dear sir if he is a going to be sent back I would like to see 
him or otherwise hear wheather he is a cominge or not my 
reasons are this and I think they are good for if he is not 
sent back I do not think that Jim or Wally or Hardy any 
man of them will stay hear on yesterday hardy left his 
team a standing in the field and has not been seean since 
which I never corected him tho I talked to him and it in- 
sulted him and he went off and as for Jack he has not gone 
yet but I am confident that he wonte stay and another thing 
thinge is that I do not like in the first plase I must please 
Calwell and Mr. Haris as it apeares and then if I donte 


[ 63 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


please everry negro on the place they rin away rite strate 
and then if I do not make a crop my imploier of corse will 
not like it and I would like to now how I can please them 
all and make a crop two and another thinge is it is consid- 
ered that I am a getting high wages and I consider that they 
are shore and I want to escape if poseable. But I will be 
candid I do intend to stay if they everry man run of my 
time out Nothing more you most respectfully 


Jim was persuaded to return but his spirit was not tamed, 
and, as we have seen, it was influencing the other slaves. 
Tt reached Hardy, who had been so much trusted that he 
was the slave who had been given the task of hauling the 
cotton to Memphis, going alone and coming back faithfully, 
which shows that he was considered a man of parts among 
the slaves. His reversal of form is described by Beanland 


in the following letter to Polk, written February 13, 1834: 


Dear sIR: 

Wear all well and I am sorry to informe you that I 
do get alonge sq_slowly. I have started my plowse ondly 
4 of them yet and on this day a week ago hardy left his 
teame standing in the field and on last night I got him home 
_and on this morninge Jim and Wally when I calde them 
they both answered me and I tolde them to starte there 
plowse and they boath started to the stabile and I have not 
hearde of them since which I had not struck them a lick 
nor threeened to do it nor in fact I did [not] now that they 
was insulted any way and Dear Sir I will be candid with you 
if ben is not brought back mister haris had beter take the 
rest of them until I get ben I now that they will run away 
untill I get ben and you will do me a never to be forgotten 
if you will have ben sent to me and in the saime time oblige 


[ 64 ] 


Ephraim Beanland’s Struggle 


yourself if he is not sent heare and maide stay all the rest 
of the fellows had beter be sent to Maury for I will be 
damde if I can do anythinge with them and they all ways 
in the mads and if you do anythinge in this matter I want 
you to do it as soon as poseable and you will oblige your 
friend, 


These arguments were hard to deny and Polk, who had 
to make the decision, was too practical to ignore them. He 
gave his decision for the overseer. Slavery was a hard 
school for the human emotions. It rested on the bitter 
basis of a denial of equality. Its first law was that slavery 
should be made safe. To relax this law in order to satisfy 
impulses of kindness meant the weakening of the institu- 
tion itself. Polk knew that he would have to back up the 
authority of his overseer or make it impossible to hold the 
slaves in a state of submission. He chose the first of these 
courses and ordered that Ben be taken back to the planta- 
tion whence he had fled. Walker, acting for him, wrote a 
letter which was read to the slaves giving them to under- 
stand that they could hope for nothing by running away 
from Beanland. The overseer’s letter to his employer of 
March 7, 1834, gives us an idea of the effect of the mas- 
ter’s action on the plantation slaves. It reads as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I did not rite to you on the firste of the month my 
reasones was that Squire Walker detained me on Wally 
acounte which in his last letter said that he had solde Wally 
and that he must go to the iron works which he shall starte 
amediately Dear sir wear all well and have bin since the 
last letter and I have got all of the negroes at home but Jim. 
I have got Jack and I have got hardy and I wente to the 


[ 65 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


iron works and got ben and on last monday I got Wally 
which they have bin runaway and I have got them all backe 
on the plantation and since I have brought ben back the 
all apear satisfied ande Squire Walker rote me a letter 
which I redit to all of them which he sayes that they shall 
stay heare or he will sell them to negro trader and by 
otheres in there plases which they do not like to solde to a 
negro trader I thinke that they ar all very well aweare that 
if they go to runninge away that it will not do for I am de- 
termined to brake it aup this set of white people that they 
had so much corispondance with I have broke it aup in- 
tirely and they ar verry well satisfied and crop time is now 
heare and if Jim goes to maury he must be sent back to me 
for I have not time to go after him but I wante his servisis 
verry much indeade 

Not long before Jim run away G More wanted him: to 
make some gates and I sent him theire and he run away 
from him and cum home and then he left me withow a 
cause which if he goes backe I wante him sente tome Dear 
Sir you wante to now how I cum on the last month I have 
got all of my old ground broke aupe and my coten ground 
boded aup but about 40 acres _ I will have it all in tolerable 
good auder this weake but the olde newgrounde that lies on 
the creak that is nothing done to it yet On monday next I 
comence in it which I thinke that it will bringe good coten 
I thinke that I muste plante the rise of a hundred aceres 
in coten and the ballance of my olde grounde in corne 
and as for my newgrounde iS verry backwarde I do not 
thinke that I can get in more than 20 aceres at moste if 
that much but I shall get in as much as posiable loosinge 
Wally I hate it but he is oblige to go so walker sayes and 
to morrow I am a goinge to the alection and if I can hire a 


[ 66 | 


Ephraim Beanlana’s Struggle 


boy on reaseble terms I shall do it and if not I make the 
beter youce of the hands that I have for I am determened 
on makinge a crop to the hands that I worke I [know] that 
your lande is verry good for coten 

I have sode 10 aceres in oats which they look verry fine 
and my corne is verry scearse my stock looks bad on the 
scarsity of corne my sheepe looks well and they is 9 lambs 
and as for my horses is undly tolerably the gray mare is in- 
tirely unfit for servise which I put my horse in her place and 
he works finely and I have got a firste rate set of runinge 
plowse and in fact I thinke that every thinge is moovinge 
on verry well at this time which I am glad to say so if you 
wante any thinge done let me noit nothing more but yours 
respectfully 


_Jack’s next act of defiance came after Beanland wrote 
the letter just presented to the reader. It was the time he 
broke a stick over the head of his tormentor and got stab- 
bed in return. It is described by Beanland in the following 
letter to Polk, April 1, 1834: 


DEar sIR: 

We ar all well and have bin so since I rote the last 
letter and sir I can say to you that I thinke that I am get- 
inge on tolerable well at this time I have all of the negroes 
at home and I did thinke that they all woulde of stayed but on 
munday last I took aup Jacke to corect him and he curste 
me verry much and run alf before my face which in run- 
ninge 2 hundred yards I caught him and I did not now that 
he had a stick in his hande and he broke it over my head 
the 3 lick which I stabed him 2 with my nife and I brought 
him backe to the house and chainde him and I have him in 
_chaines yet in a flew days he can go to worke ande he 


[ 67 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


furthermore swares that he will never stay with the Polk 
family any more I can worke him and I intendto doit I 
sente for Dr. Edwards and he examined the places where I 
stabed Jack and he sayes that are not dangeres by any 
meanes. ). 71), 


The upshot of this matter was that Jack continued to 
run away until he was finally sold. When Polk sold the 
Fayette County plantation in 1834, Jim and Ben were sent 
back to Maury. 


[ 68 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER VI 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


AVING watched Ephraim Beanland safe- 


ly past the crisis in farm management, with 


v2 SA A A oe 
ZB 5] zs © ye reference to his ability to con- 
SES) trol the slaves under his charge, let us turn 
SEW CNG to his work on the Fayette County plan- 
ay! 


tation. There is no reason to believe that 
he did not have ability in husbandry, as in planting, culti- 
vating, and harvesting the crops. Dr. Caldwell, who showed 
hostility against him on other grounds, did not raise ob- 
jections on this point. The doctor’s account of a visit to the 
plantation, taken from a letter to Polk, March 18, 1834, 
shows that he approved Beanland’s farming and was satis- 
fied with the way in which it was going. He said, dating 
his letter at “Beanlands”: 


CSL oe 


I arrived here’ this evening and found your people all 
well your negroes have been doing very bad Jim and Wally 
both have been away two or three weeks I have Bot Wally 
Jim got to Columbia was caught John Shaddon got here 
with him this Evening Beanland thinks they will stay now 
at least he is in hopes they will he has got on with his busi- 
ness very well agreeable to his chance he will have all his 
cotton land ready to plant by the first of next month he is 
now planting corn and will be able to get his old ground 


1 Dr. Caldwell dates this letter from “Beanlands,” as he facetiously calls Polk’s 
farm in Fayette County. Some of Beanland’s letters are dated from “Pleasant Grove 
Plantation,” others “On Muddy Creek,” but most of them have it merely Somerville, 
the nearest post office. 

[ 69 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


planted in fine time he wont be able to get in more than 
thirty acres of new ground he has about 60 acres fenced he 
thinks he will have in cultivation about 100 acres of cotton 
and that quantity in corn his horses and mules are in tol- 
erable [condition] he will not have corn enough there is 
none in the neighborhood for sale at any price I expect to 
let him have what corn he may want your people has 
plenty of milk I think if the negros will stay at home Bean- 
land will make you a good crop I think he is anxious to do 


Perhaps the doctor’s phrase, “He has got on with his 
business very well agreeable to his chance,” may be taken 
as a just summing up of Beanland’s merit as a conductor 
of farming operations. The Fayette County plantation 
was a new one and he who conducted it had to clear away 
the forest year by year and increase the quantity of arable 
land as he went. If all went well the increase in the acre- 
age cultivated stood for a growing return for the planter’s 
efforts. But many things could happen on a Southern plan- 
tation to defeat the best made plans. 


Beanland’s operations in_1834 encountered impediments. 
In the first place rain and one thing after another made it 
impossible for him to clear as much land as he expected. 
Planting time was upon him before the clearing was ac- 
complished. He put in as large an acreage as possible, a 
favorable season followed, and the cotton came up very 
well. Almost immediately came a cold snap with frost and 
the fine stand disappeared in a night. The long green rows 
of young cotton turned to a black streak of dead plants. 
Accepting the inevitable Beanland replanted. Apnil 17 
came a great storm and blew down many of the “deaded” 


[ 70 | 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


trees in the corn and cotton fields, destroying the plants and 
making it impossible to plow. All the hands were now 
called out to remove the trees. In this process much time 
was consumed which was needed for other kinds of labor. 
Writing to Polk on May 1, 1834, the overseer described 
his troubles in the following manner: 


Dear sIR: 

Wear all well at this time with the exceptions of ben 
havinge the rumatism but | thinke that he will be aboutt in 
a fiew dayes to geaut [get out] and on this day | will finish 
scrapinge out my cotten howsever finish scrapinge where is 
was wanste I thought that I had the best prospect for a 
crop that I ever had in my life but the froste cut it verry 
close I do shure you I never saw as great a destruction 
with frost in my life tho yet I think I can get a tolerable 
good stand provided there is no more fraust and there is no 
other axident to hapen to it my corne looks tolerable well 
and as for the new grounde | have got it broke aup wan 
way and on the 17th they caime a storm which it did throwe 
me back verry much | have got the timber all aup of my ~ 
coten ground and on tomorowe I will comence a cleaninge 
aup my corne land beinge thrown back with the storme so 
much that it dose apear like I can not be able to get in any 
new grounde but if I can get in 25 or 30 acares I| will be 
shore to do so if posiable takinge every thinge into consid- 
eration I believe that I can get in 35 acares my negroes all 
of them stayes with me and they apear like they are very 
well satisfied I make the moste buter and the moste buter- 
amilke that I ever saw and I have got the finest oats that I 
ever sawe in my life nothinge more by [y]ou most re- 


spectfully 


weg 


The Plantation Overseer 


Most planters lived on hope, and Beanland’s optimism 
was only natural to the men of his class. A month later, 
June 1, he wrote again to Polk, by which it appears that ill 
luck still pursued him. The weather, which was the plan- 
ter’s most constant menace, continued adverse and the re- 
sult was discouragement. Beanland described his situation 
in the following words: 


Dear sir: 

We ar all well and have bin since I last rote and I 
am sorry to informe you that I have got a bad stand of 
coten I have got a good stand on 50 acares it is ondly tol 
erable good and on the rest of the crop is verr indiferent 
which I planted over the second time and it came aup verry 
well and it all dyed which I have put it in corn 15 or 20 
acares and my new grounde corn is come aup verry well I 
think I have got in 35 or 44 acares and my aolde ground 
corene is promising and I say it is cleane and the most of it 
looks well sum of it is as high as my head and I have the 
finest oats that I ever sawe 10 or 12 acares which I have 
been feeding my work horsis intirely on them for 3 weaks 
I have no corn to feede them on I have 6 bariles of corne 
that the DR Calwell let me have and he cant spare any 
more and I cant hear of any for saile under $3.75 per bariel’ 
I am tolde that gavan [?] has corn to sell at $2.50 per bariel 
which I am goinge theire in the morninge to get my herd 
[?] some if I can the doctor disapointed me verry much for 
I engaged 40 bariles and I ondly got 10 My bakin holdes 
out verry well I thinke and I think that my crop is in good 
order and I shold like to see you verry much and when you 
come I want you to stay hear as longe as you can nothinge 
more at this time you moste respectfully 


1 A barrel of corn, by the count of Southern farmers, is five bushels. 


[ 72 ] 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


This man Shelby that wants to buy your farme the in- 
formation that I get about the man he is nothing more than 
awhim and a drunking man at that. 


It was Polk’s rule that his overseer must report to him 
No letter survives for July 1, 1834; we have the Pelee 
letter written by Beanland to Polk on August 2, in which it 
is seen that the writer was still hopeful: 


DEar sir: 

On yesterday yours caime to hand and you wanted 
to nowe howe I was a getting on and howe we all ware and 
what the prospects I have for a crop my corn is good and 
my cotten is promisin at this time I have seean grown 
boles in it yesterday nearly waste high I have sum good 
cotten and sum indifferent and to take the crop all to 
geather I am afraide it is two fine it is in the rite stage to 
make a firste rate crop or to make a sorry wan if we havea 
good dry season crops will be fine and mine is good I think 
tho my stand is not good tho I think I will make a fare crop 
if the season is dry and on to morowe I am a goinge to see 
Dr. Calwell and see what the chance for bagin and rope and 
make the arangements about it and as for the newe gin I 
never have seean the man nor heard from him and I ama 
goinge to see about it when I go down and as for the runing 
geares that is hear they ar no A count and I cant make out 
with them at tawl and I am sorry that you ar not cominge 
down for it is imposiable to make out with them and as for 
payinge for them I would not give a dam for them for I 
tore them all to peases to pick the last yeares crop the cogs 
was all wayes a workinge out and the runinge geares that is 
hear I cant under take to pick a crop with them and if the 


[ 73 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


new gin is as indifferent he shant leave it in the gin house 
and I rite to you and let you nowe as soon as I get back we 
ar all well and I have sode 4 acares of turneps nothing 
more at this time you moste respectfully 


If you please rite a note to my step fatheres peter wil- 
liams E's livinge on Sillver creake and dyrect him to send 
my brother Edward to me as soone as posiable for I have 
got an openinge in Sumerville in A Le and Smithes store 
for him and I think it is a good place and I donte want him 
to delay send your note to Jim Bendens the firste opertun- 
ity please do this faveour and you will oblige your friend 


In the following letter, dated August 3, 1834, Beanland 
was perhaps using the condition of the gin and the running 
gear that drove it as an excuse to remind Polk of his re- 
quest of the previous day to have his brother sent to him. 
His writing is even more unusual than his spelling, but I 
do not think I have made a mistake in the name of this 
brother, who is Edward in the first letter and “gefson,” or 
“gefsan,” in the second, which, I take it, was intended for 
“Jefferson.” I have been able to think of no plausible ex- _ 
planation of this contradiction, unless, indeed, the boy was 
named “Edward Jefferson.” The letter, quite characteris- 
tic of the writer, is as follows: 


DEar sIR: 

We ar all well without it is Casy she is verry lowe 
at this time and I have pict out 6000 weight of cotten and 
on yesterday I started my gin with the old running gear 
tho I can make out with them untill the newwuns is maid 
which I will have them as soon as posiable I got a letter 
from Silliman and he says that he cant repaire the running 
gear tho the is no repairinge to do for | will have new wuns 


[ 74 ] 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


maid and them is first rate Sir I shold like to see you hear 
before you sell out for I think that you have bin mistaken in 
your place I want you to hire a boy and rite a note to my step- 
father and dyrect him to send gefson hear forthwith as 
sone as posiable for I cant get A. Le and Smith to weight 
any longer then next friday weake. please do this and I will 
pay you when you come downe I am a goinge to baile cot- 
tentonight Your verry respectful 


Faile not if you please to let gefsan nowe of it* 


Beanland’s reference to Polk’s sale of the Fayette Coun- 
ty place shows that he had already heard of the plans be- 
ing made by which he was destined to transfer his resi- 
dence to Mississippi. It was a time of great adventure in 
the Southwest. After a long time the Cherokee, Creek, 
Chickasaw, and Choctaw Indians had been put in train for 
removal beyond The Mississippi River. The rich land they 
were giving up was eagerly grasped by the energetic men of 
the older part of the South. In the whole range of settle- 
ment offered to these adventurers there was no other land. 
so attractive as the’best tracts in Mississippi. The govern- 
ment offered the land at auction and sold what was left af- 
ter the sale at a stated price of $1.25 an acre. Although the 
choicest tracts frequently brought fancy prices at the auc- 
tion, many an excellent tract was taken up at the minimum 
price by some lucky man on the spot. Then came the tide 
of settlers, men who desired to come with slaves, establish 
plantations, and give themselves to cotton planting in a re- 
gion which knew little of winter. Many a handsome for- 
tune was founded in these “flush times” in this favored re- 
gion. Land values went up rapidly as the prospectors 


1 This letter appears in vol. 18 of the Polk MSS., which is the wrong place. 


[75 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


sought out the good tracts and offered liberal advances on 
the first prices to those who had the lands for sale. 

In 1834 the fever had broken out in Tennessee, and Polk 
and many others yielded to it. His Fayette County place 
produced cotton, but not so bountifully and of such long 
staple as the Mississippi lands produced. He decided to sell 
the place and buy in the South. Rumors of his intention | 
reached Beanland, who became concerned at the effect such 
a move might have on his own affairs. In the letter of Au- 
gust 3, 1834, he tried, as we have seen, to dissuade his em- 
ployer from selling. A few weeks later he heard enough to 
show that his efforts were useless and then he wrote the 
following letter, August 24, 1834, in which he came more 
directly to his own situation: 


DEar sIR: 

Wear all well with the exception of Casy she is get- 
inge better Jim and enykey all have had the congestif fever 
and I think shortly they will be able to go to worke on to 
morowe I shall go to picken out cotten and as for my crop 
I cant say any thinge about it Dr Calwell is hear and he 
has seean it all and he can tell you wheather it is a good 
wan or not Sir I understand that J Walker es shold of 
Sayed that you ware a goinge to sell out your farme and if 
you are I would like to nowe it my reasones in this that I 
do expect to followe the busness for a liven that I nowe 
followe and I have got a good opertunity of makinge A 
ingagement for next yeare and do not think that it is rite 
for to make other ingagements untill I consulted you on the 
subject if you please rite me A fiew lines on this subject if 
you please I do not want you to think urge an ingagement 
for next year and if you cant cum I want to nowe wheather 


[ 76 | 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


you want to imploy any person for the next year your 
verry respectfully 


with you ondly that I am had three applications for next 
year 


A month later Polk was at his Fayette County plantation 
for the purpose of selling it. He found a purchaser in aman 
named Booker. In a letter to his wife, dated September 
26, 1834, he announced the completion ‘of the transaction 
and related some interesting information about affairs on 
the place. He wrote: 


Dear SaraH: 

Within an hour after I wrote to you on yesterday I 
sold my land to Mr. Booker for $6,000, one half down and 
at Christmas and the other half upon a year’s credit. To- 
day I have bought Mariah’s husband, and have some ex- 
pectations that I may be able to get Caesar’s wife. My 
crop is better than I expected; There is a fair prospect that 
it will yield me including corne and cotton both, about 
$2500. Beanland has done well, considering the trouble he 
has had with the negroes. Old Jack is now gone without any 
known cause, and has been away for near three weeks. No 
account can be had of him. I fear he has taken another 
trip to the Mississippi River. 

I will send up Jim and Ben with olde Mr. Moore 
(George’s father) who will start on Monday. I will give 
them a letter to Mr. Harris requesting him to deliver them 
to their owners. I find negro clothing very high here, and 
will write by them to Mr. Harris, requesting him to buy for 
me, their clothing and send it down with old Mr. Moore, who 
will be returning with a waggon. I am resolved to send my 
hands to the South, have given money to James Brown to 


E77] 


The Plantation Overseer 


buy a place and have employed Beanland as an overseer. | 
am determined to make more money or loose more one. 

I have been kept exceedingly busy since I got here, have 
not been off the plantation except to a neighbour’s house on 
business. I have received no letters from home, and have 
seen no newspaper, and of course know nothing of the char- 
acter of the publication, which the editor of the Republican | 
had promised to make before I left home. I determined 
not to pester [?] myself about it until I had done my bus- 
iness. I hope to be able to get off on tomorrow morning, or 
the next day; and | think I may have an opportunity to 
sell my land near Bolivar, and will probably be detained 
there for a day or two, and will then come directly home. 
I bought Mariah’s husband, a very likely boy, about 22 
years old, for $600 and paid for him with the notes I held 
on his master for land which I sold him several years ago 

Your affectionate husband 


P.S. Iwill write to Mr. Harris giving him a statement 
of the articles I wish sent down for the plantation when old 
Mr. Moore returns. If he is not at home will you see to it 
and get Samuel Walker to buy them for me upon the lowest 
terms he can. I have written for enough to make two suits 
sound. The negroes have no idea that they are going to be 
sent to the South, and I do not wish them to know it, and 
therefore it would be best to say nothing about it at home, 
for it might be carryed back to them. 


The flight of Chunky Jack gave Polk much concern and 
he sent Beanland to find and bring him home. The overseer 
had shown his desire to master Jack on previous occasions, 
but he recoiled when he learned that Jack had taken refuge 
in Shawnee Town, a settlement of desperate men, mostly 


[78] 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


runaways, on the western side of the Mississippi. The 
swamps of the South offered safe asylum to such people, and 
such settlements existed, as in the Dismal Swamp, in North 
Carolina, in Scuffletown, on the border between the two 
Carolinas, and in the Everglades of Florida. Nothing less 
powerful than a military force was suitable to send against 
such a place if it was well stocked with desperate fugitives. 
No officer of the law could safely invade it and bring out 
one of the inhabitants. Beanland naturally recoiled before 
the task facing him. His letter to Polk, October 4, 1834, is 
as follows: 


Dear sir: 

On last nite I got home from the arkensis and I 
hearde of Jack but never cold get site of him and its seposed 
that he is in Shauney villege which I was advised to not go 
theire for they is a den of theives and to tell you the fact I 
donte think that you will ever git him. I sene John Biger- 
staf in Memphis which I rote a letter to Jisco the sherif of 
philips county arkensis teritory that he was heare and as 
for Jack he has got alonge with them theives and I thinke 
that the chance is bad of getinge of him. ..... 

It has bin a raininge for five dayes study I am afraid 
that the cotten will turn alf but sorry I thinke if you and 
Booker can trade it would be best for you for I am afraide 
that it will be sorry I shall make 6 bailes to day 

Silaman caim hear and | sent the gin back and I also 
bought A negro boy from him for $600 the boy is 22 years 
olde and I told his [sic] that I would give $5 hundred dol- 
lars for the Boyes wife and 2 children please rite to me 
and let me nowe sumpthing on on the subject we ar all 
well at this time Your very respectfully* 


1 This letter is filed in 1836 which is wrong. It is found in vol. 23. 


[79 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Beanland’s supposition that Jack was safe beyond re- 
covery in Shawnee Town was an error. A few days after 
the preceding letter was written news came that the fugi- 
tive was taken and it was proposed to sell him. Beanland 
acquiesced in the decision, although he protested that he 
would work the “aolde scoundrel” if Polk decided to send 
him back to the plantation. His letter to Polk of October | 
10, 1834, filled as usual with news of the people on the 
place also gives us an idea of the influence of one bad slave 
on the other slaves of the community. The letter is as fol- 
lows: 


Wear all well but Caasy and eny they aint able to go 
picken out cotten yet and it has rained all moste everry day 
since you left hear the weather in nowe fine for cotten for 
the last 3 days I am glad to hear of Jack I say sell the 
aolde scounderel tho if you wante him worked send him on 
and I will take good care of him and secure him I am glad 
to hear of you a byinge 5 negroes my cotten is a goinge to 
turn out well I thinke if I can get it all out but I do ashore 
you I cant get it out in time if I donte get more hands than 
I nowe have got. I have sent 10 bales to Memphis and on 
this morninge I have started my gin I cant get out my 
crop in time if I donte get more help for when I run my gin 
I have not got but 7 hands Please to send Jack to me and 
I will ceape him if it is posiable and as for Bearneses boy 
he will take $600 for him. 

I nowe see parson reaves and he is hear and he says if 
you sende Jacke heare he will cill him for he says that if his 
boy fill would not runaway he would not take $1000 for 
him for he is a right smarte blacksmith and A good shu 
maker and a good huar [hewer] the boy fill will live with 


[ 80 | 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


you I would advise you to by him for he can be broke from 
runninge away this is the 2 time that he ever run away in 
his life and Jack went theire and got him alf. he will take 
$600 for him and I wante you to sell Jack and never let him 
come here no more for they is a greate meny of the neigh- 
bers is afraide for him to come hear Reeves will be theire 
in a few days and he wants to sell his boy which I have bar- 
gende for him at $600 and I thinke he is a verry cheape boy 
I bought him for you and if you are afraide to I am not. 
By him be shore he is such a handy boy* 

Sir Silliman caime heare and I sente the gin back and I 
bought a negro man from him and the boy is 22 years olde 
weighing 180 to 185 pounds he is warented to be sounde 
healthy and a rite handy boy which I was to give him $600 
for him and he was to send him on without faile and the 
boy has a wife and she can be got for $500 her and 2 chil- 
dren which I tolde him if I liked hear I would give it rite 
to me and let me nowe what to do I have paid the black- 
smiths acounte withoute payinge out wan dollar in cash I 
got the receite in full ande I give the pony for the oxen which 
I have got a good teame nowe and I have loste wan milke 
cowe since you left Nothing more but your verry respect- 
fully 


Removal to Mississippi was now uppermost in the minds 
of owner and overseer, and every effort was bent to the 
completion of the work connected with harvesting the 
crop of 1834, so that an early start might be made at the 
new place. Polk’s orders were to send the old and the infirm 
slaves to Maury County; for none but the most capable 
were fit for the work in the new country to which they were 


1 The upshot was that Phil was bought for $600 as is shown by a bill of sale dated 
October 18, 1834, and preserved in the Polk MSS. 


[ 81 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


going. By this time Beanland had been assured that he was 
to be retained as overseer and his letters are full of enthusi- 
asm for the prospects before him. His pictures of planta- 
tion life continue rosy, although he was very apprehensive 
that they would not get the cotton out in time. It was on 
this account that he advised Polk to sell the crop as it stood to 
Booker, who had bought the place, leaving to that gentle- _ 
man, who had slaves of his own, the task of completing the 
harvest. He was having trouble, also, with the running 
gear of the gin. Horses, or mules, were used as motive 
power, the day of the stationary engine had not arrived; 
and the crude gears made by local artisans were of uncer- 
tain service. In his letter to Polk of October 14, 1834, these 
things appear in his own terse language as follows: 


DEar sIR: 

When we parted you said that I had better sende 
olde man Charly and Casy back to maury which I have got 
a good chance to sende them by Rily Johnson I was to find 
him corne and foder which he got it heare and I thoughte 
it beste to sende them on before the colde weather ande if 
he is pute to any trouble you will pay him for it Caasy and 
the olde man charly will note be of any servis heare and I 
Sente them backe I gave him as much corne and foder as 
he woulde cary and he comes 12 miles oute of his waye 
with them you can settle it he cant aske much for his 
trouble please see peter R. Baaker ande get him to bringe 
my bed from Goodrumes for I am oblige to give the wan 
aup that I have got please faill not to get my bed and 
Bakers wagon and sende it to me and I will be under last- 
inge obligations to you I am pickinge oute cotten slolly at 
this time I thinke that I have got 18 or 20 bailes but I 


[ 82 ] 


ia: 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


have got 11 bailes made and my runinge gear has broke and 
I cante stope from pickeinge oute cotten ande my cotten is 
a opninge verry well indeade ande | cante get it out in time 
to ge[t] away for | mus go to maury won time more any 
howe if posiable when bokers hands comes downe I wante 
to go backe if posiable tho I will note leave heare unduly 
when it is conveinante I am willinge to let it alfe a goinge 
to the laste but I do as I have [told] you that I mus come 
backe and see mother. 

We ar all well at this time and | donte thinke that I am 
half done pickinge oute cotten I would like for you to by a 
place that has good water if posiable I thinke that seasers 
wife will go yet with him if he woulde preswade hear a little 
more Verry respectfully 


To get more.slaves for the new venture was one of Polk’s 
objects and he authorized Beanland to buy where he could 
obtain good bargains, which is evidence of the extent to 
which he trusted the overseer. In the preceding letters has 
appeared evidence that the commission was discharged 
with care and good sense. In the following letter dated 
October 26, 1834,’ we may see at length with what spirit he 
carried on his negotiations: 


Dear sir: 

On yesterday I received yours and you wanted to 
nowe wheather Fill and Dicey had caime on they both got 
to the plantation on last friday and they ar verry well satis- 
fied and you wish to nowe wheather I was to pay the re- 
warde or not I was not I was to give $600 and pay the 
Jailefees but as for the rewarde I had nothinge to do with 
it for 1 do ashore you that I would not pay it for Reaves 


1 Tn the wrong place in the files. It is in vol. 19. 


[ 83 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


may be ashor that if I had the payinge of it I would not do 
it for my bargin was to pay the Jaile fees and he was to 
make the bill of saile and as for the rewarde Reaves mos 
pay it himself for it is a matter of importance when I make 
a trade to make wan at atime I am Astonished to thinke 
that [he] would think that I would make such a bargin 
and donte you pay it a tawl for when | bought the boy fill 
I was ofered $750 for him in wan hour after I hand [sic] 
bought him so I thinke that Reaves just cold as reasniable 
expect the $150 that I was ofered more than I gave as for 
me to pay the reward it is true that I have bin ofered $750 
by 2 men for fill but I tolde them that I bought the boy for 
you and I was preswaided to take $750 but I would not 
done such A thinge because I wanted you to owne the boy 
and if you did not wante the boy I wold ceape him myself 
for he cold be solde readily for $800 hear and as for Seasers 
wife she cante be got 

I went yesterday and ofered Carter $475 for Seasers 
wife and she is not willinge to go with you so I tell Seaser 
that she dose not care any thinge for him and he sayes that 
is a fact Govan sayes that he would of give $800 for henry if 
he would have thought that Carter would have solde him 
so I thinke that we had beter go to negro tradinge I have 
been tryinge to trade the notes I hold on Durem and on 
Bills for a boy 15 yeares olde which it will be a good trade 
if I can and all of the notes is hear and I am agoinge to Sil- 
limans today and I am ancious to come to maury and I do 
ashore you I shold like to nowe wheather you have a wagin 
a cominge down acristmust or not for I have 1000 pounds 
to cover’ [?] if I can make the arangements with you we 


1 Seems to refer to moving his personal effects. 


[ 84 ] 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


ar all well and I am sorry that I sente Casy and Charles 
aup you said to send them the firste 

Dear sir I will see Silaman on this nite and amdetely I 
will let you nowe what we do and on last friday I was at the 
Doctors plantation and C. C. Jones will be in maury on the 
4 of nexte month and he has a negro girl for saile and I ast 
him if he would take his owne notes for the girle and he did 
not say and if you will minde you can get a good bargin and 
give him his own paper for the land that Gorge More solde 
him if Booker will give you $1.25 per bariel for your corn 
and gether it take it in cash or a credit of 12 monts $1.75 
if you gether it or if he will gether it you take $1.50 per 
bariel I have made 18 bailes of coten they has been a good 
deale of wet and if Booker will give you $2500 for your crop 
take it when you see the doctor give him my beste re- 
spects and tell him that I shod as live go with him to the 
Missippi as any other man I am ancious to nowe where I 
am a going [?] I wante my bed sente down by Bookers 
wagon olde mister more has brought all of your articles. 


Polk did not trust entirely to Beanland’s efforts to obtain 
slaves in Tennessee, where they were scarce and compara- 
tively high in price. While in Washington he met G. T. 

“Greenfield, one of his friends from Tennessee, as it seems, 
who was trying to purchase slaves to take to Tennessee with 
him. Polk asked him to buy for him also and Greenfield 
agreed. The commission proved too difficult for execution. 
The following letter from Greenfield, written in Washing- 
ton, March 29, 1835, shows how hard it was to buy slaves. 
It also shows that not all the slaves taken from the old sea- 
board slave states to the new cotton states were carried by 
negro traders. Greenfield wrote: 


[ 85 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Dear sir: 

Since you left here the weather has been very bad, 
and the snow is now falling and the roads in a desperate 
condition. I shall leave here as early as I possibly can. I 
promised to purchase you a couple of negro men, or a man 
and a boy, or a woman and a man. I have not as yet pur- 
chased any male negroes, as they are difficult to get. I will 
still endeavor to purchase if possible but do not wish to dis- 
appoint you. There are a great many traders here, and men 
and boys are very scarce, at any price. Should I succeed in 
getting all the negroes I want, you can have your choice of 
two, and if you are supplied before I get out, it will make 
no difference with me, as I wish to settle a plantation in 
Mississippi. ‘The precise time I shall leave here depends 
upon circumstances. I sent out a man to purchase negroes 
of a certain description, he has failed. I shall set out as soon 
as the weather will permit. I am yours respy. 


To these statements Greenfield added in another letter, 
dated June 10, 1835, the following information: “I regret 
to say it was out of my power to purchase you any negroes. 
Every exertion was made. I intended to let you have two of 
my negro men but they ran away and I sold them. I have 
fio servants along, but family slaves, and those connected 
with them.” 


We have gone far enough into the plantation life as de- 
picted in Beanland’s letters to understand that slavery was 
just slavery. It was neither the thing of horror the aboli- 
tionists thought nor the benign institution its defenders de- 
picted. It was a relation whereby men who had work to be 
done got workers to do it. From the stand point of the la- 
borers it was a form of service in which men worked and 


[ 86 ] 


Beanland and the Plantation Routine 


got the sustenance that their masters decided necessary for 
their wants. Beanland had no delusions about slavery. He 
seems to have had no idea that it was an institution. With 
him it was only a question of Jack, Ben, Caesar, and Gilbert. 
For them he did what good mastership demanded, made 
them obey, fed and clothed them, and tried to get them “to 
make a crop” for his employer, contending all the while 
against the uncertainties of season and health. His effort 
determined the success or failure of the operations on the 
plantation. 


[ 87 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER! Vig 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


& OR the first year of the Mississippi venture 
si we have no letters from Beanland. He un- 

i) doubtedly made the required monthly re- 
4 ports but they went to Dr. Caldwell, the 
YZ more active of the two partners in the en- 
terprise, who being nearer to the plantation 
than Polk, the other partner, had the task of direct super- 
vision. Dr. Caldwell’s correspondence is not preserved. 
The most definite information we have of this first year’s 
operations is that twenty bales of cotton were raised. The 
expenses were heavy and the yield was not as great as was 
expected. Dr. Caldwell shows that he did not like the over- 
seer and he went to Mississippi in September of this first 
year, 1835, with the avowed purpose of changing overseers. 
Arrived there he relieved his mind by telling Beanland that 
his services would not be needed for the following year. 
Whereupon Beanland, being a normal overseer, and suf- 
fering from chills and fever incident to a new clearing, lost 
interest in what he was doing. Caldwell later reported that 
Beanland did little work on the plantation from September 
to the end of his engagement. Dr. Caldwell made another 
visit about New Year’s day and was greatly disappointed 
by what he saw. His account of what he found is rendered 
to Polk in the following letter dated at Yalobusha,* January 
16, 1836: 


1 Later on the letters from the Yalobusha plantation were dated from, and post- 
marked at, Okachickima, Mississippi. 


[ 88 ] 


SRR 


The New Plantation in M; ississippt 


DEar sIR: 

I arrived here last night from Mississippi I have not 
employed Beanland. I have got a man by the name of 
Mayo, from the district Beanland done very little good af- 
ter I was there in the fall. he had not got out half of the 
cotton and we will make a light crop there I think fifteen or 
20 bales after I left there he run off three of the negroes 
which cost between 50 and 60 Dollars to get them the 
worst loss was your boy Abram he started him the Post 
Office with some letters the Mule he rode threw him 
against a tree and killed him he Lived but a few hours af- 
ter he was thrown I have sold the smith tools we made 43 
Bales in Haywood; our expences in Miss. are very heavy 
indeed much greater than I anticipated I am going from 
here to Glass’s_ I expect to be at Columbia by the first of 
next month then I will give you all the particulars in haste 
yours 


One of Dr. Caldwell’s duties was to have a final settle- 
ment with the overseer. The following receipt, dated with- 
out place and evidently dated back, shows with what terms 
the settlement was made. It runs: “Received January Ist, 
1836, of Silas M. Caldwell five hundred and ninety Dol- 
lars it being for my wages as manager or overseer for Polk 
and Caldwell for the year 1835 and for Hire of a negro 
woman and articles Bot for the use of plantation in Mis- 
sissippi. Ephraim Beanland.” The articles bought for the 
use of the plantation probably included such things as were 
needed in emergency, as food for the sick, or tools, or re- 
pairs for which cash had to be paid. The receipt is of fur- 
ther interest because it shows that Beanland had become 
the owner of a slave woman, which meant that he was look- 


[ 89 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


ing to the day when he should become a planter himself. 
This settlement was not mutually satisfactory as is shown 
in a letter from Beanland to Polk written from Lagrange, 
Tennessee, January 23, 1836, in the following language: 


Dear sIR: 

Sin I have sen you I have had a serious spell of the 
feiver but wear all well at this time Doct. Calwell has bin 
down and we made a settlement with every thinge only the 
shugar and coffy and he syas that they is a missunder- 
standing be twean myself and you but I think differently 
for I well now that you was to find me and to moove 
[me] and family to the Mississippi and also to finde me 
and family and you was to give me $400 and finde me and 
family and pay me the hire of 1 hand the yousual price, the 
extras [1] gave $75 for I wants and | throwed in 1 month 
for the time I was sicke and I also bought 200 pounds of 
beef and wich the Docter was verry willinge for me to pay 
but as for the shugar and coffy he left it to stand untill you 
wold come downe and I will say thet It is not rite for me to 
finde the shugar and coffy for the youse of the plantation 
we have had often 6 or 7 hands sick as long as 3 months 
and I must finde them my that is out of the question The 
shugar and coffy caust 26 dollars and if it was my bargin 
to of payed it I wold of don it and also I bought 1 barel and 
a half of flower which you will have to pay I well recolect 
that tolde me that you was a goinge to mateson county and 
I wanted you and myself to drawe ritings and you wolld 
put it olf untill another time you said as for a bariel of 
flower or 2 you was willinge to by and as for the worke 
me [n] that was bildinge the gin and the well digger I was to 
finde them and consider that you will have it to pay for and 


[ 90 ] 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


furthermore I payed 29 dollares and sum sence in the deas- 
trict for you and the docter promised to pay me last crist- 
must and he failed in so doinge Dear sir I want nothinge 
but what is rite 

Your FRIEDN 


You will please to rite to the doctor or let this matter 
ly over untill you come home Yours very respectfully 


This appeal did not produce satisfaction. Against a man 
so highly placed as Polk in the affairs of the state the voice 
of an overseer did not reach far when the affairs depended 
on verbal evidence alone. Beanland continued to be an 
overseer for the time being, with his eye set all the time on 
the station of planter. Five years later his ambition was 
accomplished. He had acquired possession of a section of 
land and owned “three hands,” which indicates that he had 
worked and saved with good effect. These facts he revealed 
in a letter to Polk dated at Panola, Mississippi, April 12, 
1841, as follows: . 


Dear sir: 

Necessity comples me to call on you for the small 
amont you owe me which is ninety od dollars forty od dol- 
lars of the above amont was paid in Tennessee before you 
and Caldwell entered into copartnership and the balance 
was paid out by me in this state for you both amounts and 
the interest makes the amount first stated I lent you and 
Caldwell three hundred and fifty dollars for twelve months 
I have received but five dollars Interes for the use of the 
money. I refer you to Mr. Caldwell for the correctness of 
the state of this lone and money. 

I wish you to forward me the money by male directed to 


[or ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Bellmont Panola County, as I am much in need of money. 

I wish you to do what you think is rite. Your attention to 

the foregoing business will confer a particular favour on 
Your very obedient servt., 


P.S. I have quit overseaing and have gon to farming for 
myself I have one section of land and three hands and I 
wish to enter into copartnership with a steady and close cal- 
culating man If you know of any such person that would 
like to place some hands out to a benefit, I should like for 
them to join me for five or six years agreeable to the num- 
ber of hands in profits and expenses. I will make sufficient 
quanty of corn this season to suppy the place I am living 
4 miles from steamboat navigation, a good high road to the 
river you may safely calculate on us five Bales of cotton 
to the hand at the least calculation. It is in a healthy Rea- 
gion My land is good 


Here we take our leave of Ephraim Beanland, the most 
interesting of all the overseers whose letters I have seen. 
He had many sterling qualities. He was a man of his word, 
he had good judgment in the conduct of the affairs of the 
plantation, and he met opposition with a stout heart. The 
worst Dr. Caldwell said about him was that he was too se- 
vere with the slaves under his care, which may have been 
true to some extent. But it was always hard to tell how se- 
vere was just severe enough. Some overseers had the art of 
managing slaves without punishment, saying little to them 
in condemnation or in praise, always watching, never irri- 
tating. Such an overseer Beanland was not. He gave his or- 
ders positively. He made it known that he was master, and 
having taken that position he stood ready to make his as- 
sertion effective. When a youngish man went single-handed 


[ 52 | 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


into a new country, leading a band of slaves whom he had 
to direct and keep under discipline, he deserves some con- 
sideration from those who make appraisal of his conduct. 
On the spot he had a better opportunity to decide how an 
emergency was to be met than those who were not there. I 
do not ask approval for all he did. He may have been too 
harsh. On the other hand the situation may have demanded 
all he did. The only witness against him, besides the slaves 
whom he disciplined, was Dr. Caldwell, who was apt to 
form his opinions quickly and without taking all things 
into consideration. 

Information relating to Ephraim Beanland’s later life is 
scant; but it is learned that he lived on the section of land 
he took into possession until his death in 1855 or 1856. 
His wife, who was Sally McDonald, of Tennessee, long sur- 
vived him. One of his five children, E. D. Beanland, be- 
came a physician, and others lived to be persons of import- 
ance in their communities. Letters received from surviving 
members of the family show that he had his desire, to rise 
above the station of overseer and to found a family of rec- 
ognized standing. Many of the prosperous families of the 
South had an origin equally lowly. 

_The departure of Beanland made it necessary for Dr. Cald- 
well to stay many days at the plantation in order to get the 
new overseer, Mayo, installed and things running smoothly. 
There was much to discourage him and he was a man to 
let worry discourage him. Worse than all, someone — it is 
not evident who it was — spoke of buying the place for $20 
an acre, which was double the price paid a year earlier. It 
became a haunting regret to Caldwell that he did not make 
a sale, and as the expenses of getting the place cleared and 
operations conducted smoothly proved larger than he had 


[93 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


expected his regret became deeper. From that time until he 
withdrew from the partnership his letters were dismal. 
Writing to Polk from Columbia, January 31, 1836, he said: 


Dear sIR: 

I got home yesterday after a long and Laborious 
trip of trouble and expence the expences of the plantation 
in Mississippi are indeed very great I have paid out at the 
two places not less than $1600. Our cotton crop will not 
make the payment on the land and other expences. I have 
recd. account of the sale of 25 Bales at 1544 and 15 cts the 
Balance will not sell for that, being of inferior quality. 43 
Bales we made in Haywood I can form no Idea, what we 
will make at the other place Beanland had not got out half 
the crop he had done Very little after 1 was there in the 
fall. three of the negroes ran away which cost between fifty 
and sixty dollars he was very extravagant in his expendi- 
tures I give the man I employed there $325 the one in 
Haywood $250 

I killed 95 Hogs at the two places which will I expect 
make our meat. We had made but three Bales of cotton 
when I left Missi. Our crop from there will be late getting 
to market they will not get it out before the first of March 
I don’t think we will make more than 20 or 25 Bales. We 
owe Caruthers and Harris $4100. Both crops will not pay 
the debt. I collected the money of Glass $299, paid him 
$20 for charges I come home by the way of Memphis 
found an account against you of $44.66 for Bagging Rope 
etc with Lawrence and Davis also one at Somerville for 
$6.50 at A. L and Smith Both of which I settled. I col- 
lected $420 of my own which I was compelled to use. Be- 
sides the $2933.33 for the Land I borrowed of Harris $1200 


[ 94 ] 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


on account of our crop, which sum the crop will not near 
pay. I wrote in the other letter that your boy Abram got 
killed. I sold the smith Tools calculating we should not 
need them We have made corn enough in Mississippi and 
Haywood todo...... 

It would have [been] well for us that we never had had 
anything to do with Beanland. I expect to plant at the two 
places 250 acres in cotton. Write me on the receipt of this. 
I am gratified at your success. 

Very respectfully yours. 


We are left in entire ignorance of Mayo’s success or 
failure as an overseer. It is merely known that he remained 
on the Mississippi plantation only one year, which does not 
indicate that he was satisfactory to his employers. For this 
period we have no letter from him, and it is probable that 
he reported to Caldwell, who wrote to Polk at intervals. 
It is from these letters that we get such information as we 
have of plantation affairs in the year 1836. One of them, 
dated at Columbia, February 7, 1836, is as follows: 


Dear siIR: 

Since I wrote you I have received an account of the 
sales of all our Haywood crop except 3 Bales. the whole 
crop will not amount to $2700 which will leave of the land 
debt about $300. The Mississippi crop will not pay the 
Balance of that debt and expences. I have drawn from 
Harris more than the amount of both crops and for want of 
funds have left our debts in Bolivar unpaid for shoes and 
clothing, etc., If you have any money in Mr. Harris’s hands 
you will please authorise him to advance me what will be 
necessary. I collected between $300 and $400 of my money 
and paid it out. I have advanced considerably more money 


[95 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


than you have my means are out and have to borrow 
money to send to Samuel at college Our expenses were 
much more than I anticipated. I mentioned in my last let- 
ter that Reuben was in Bad health if he is no better when 
I go down I think it would be prudent to bring him home 
he has been sick all summer and fall almost. 

I will be obliged to send Harbert to the district he is do- 
ing very badly he is stealing Drinking and doing as bad 
as he can I should have sent him this morning with George 
Moore if I could have got him he is dodging about [so] 
that I have not been able to get him. I think Reuben had 
better be brought to Columbia and put another in his place 
the water or climate dont agree with him Write to me im- 
mediately as I shall start down towards the last of March 
what I will do with Reuben and Harbert, tho. Harbert I 
shall send to the district as soon as I can get him and meet 
with an opportunity to do so if he staysin Columbia I am of 
opinion he will be hung he is a very bad Boy indeed. 

Very respectfully yours 


Harbert was, in fact, a precious scamp, and he tried the 
good doctor sorely, so that I can hardly refrain from wish- 
ing that he had fallen for a brief space into the hands of 
Ephraim Beanland. He behaved so outrageously, he and 
Matilda, who was probably his wife, that the doctor washed 
his hands of him entirely. Then James Walker, another 
of Polk’s brothers-in-law and a man of more direct action 
than the doctor, took him in hand. Walker’s account of 
Harbert’s doings is contained in a letter to Polk, dated at 
Columbia, March 18, 1836, and is as follows: 


Dear sir: 
Harbert has been acting badly for some time 


[ 96 ] 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


past. William hired him to Mrs. Frazier. He was seldom 
there, generally at the grocery and places where he ought 
not to have been. When George Moore was here Ist of 
Feb. Dr. Caldwell concluded to send him to the District. 
Harbert and Matilda eluded the D. and he could not be 
found until Moore left. Two weeks ago the D. had an- 
other opportunity to send him, got hold of him, and put 
him in his room up stairs at your mother’s. Whilst the D. 
was at breakfast Harbert jumped out of the window and 
cleared himself. It is strange he did not cripple himself. 
Upon this D. C. declared he would have nothing more to 
do with him. Not being able to prevail on D. C. to pay 
any further attention to him your mother hired him to 
Ament (a brick maker). To this Harbert and Matilda ob- 
jected. On Monday last I heard that Harbert had gone off 
in the stage to Nashville. I immediately sent to have the 
stage overtaken and him brought back, put him in jail and 
kept him there until him and Matilda made such fair 
promises that I took him out and hired him to Ament at 
$5 pr. month. He has done very well since... ... 


From statements in these letters it will be seen that Polk 
and Caldwell were now operating two plantations as part- 
ners, one in Fayette County, Tennessee, and the other in 
Yalobusha County, Mississippi. They had bought the sec- 
ond place on credit, proposing to pay for it in three annual 
payments. The price was $8,800, and it appears by the 
letters of the doctor that they assumed that they would 
make enough money clear of operating expenses on the two 
places to pay the instalments on the debt incurred in pur- 
chasing the second place. They were expecting a great deal, 
under the circumstances, for the new plantation was en- 


[97 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


tirely uncleared when it was purchased, and it was inevit- 
able that it would not yield very much at first. When Dr. 
Caldwell realized that it would be impossible to meet the 
first deferred payment as expected he became discouraged, 
and being a temperamental man he began to think of with- 
drawing from the venture. Nothing could show better the 
rapid accumulation of value in such enterprises during 
these flush times in Mississippi than the fact that two men 
of normal good sense in cotton planting should have formed 
such expectations. In more sober days they would hardly 
have been disappointed if they had carried their undertak- 
ing to success in twice three years. In fact, Polk completed 
his payments in 1838, four years after the purchase, but it 
is not certain that the money came entirely from the place. 

Dr. Caldwell’s feeling of disappointment grew and he be- 
came more than ever anxious to withdraw from the part- 
nership. February 22, 1836, he wrote to Polk from Co- 
lumbia as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I recd a letter from the Overseer in Missi on yester- 
day stating that he had got his cotton out the letter was 
dated 3rd of this monthe he had only made Eight Bales 
owing to his not being able to procure Rope and Bagging 
until the time which he wrote, but that he should Bale and 
send off the Balance of the Cotton as soon as he could he 
dont state what he will make he writes he has commenced 
clearing land but I am afraid he will not be able to get land 
enough cleared he writes me the [sic] Reuben and Eliza- 
beth have done no work since I left they were both sick 
when I left there. in fact Reuben has been sick the most of 
last year. I have not heard from the district since I left 


[ 98 ] 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


there. I have a strong disposition to sell out in Mississippi 
if I can get a good price. I could have sold when I was 
down at $20 pr. Acre I believe. 1] am afeard there is too 
much of our plantation too flat and wet. I can form a more 
correct opinion about that when I go down in the spring 
if that proves to be the fact I think we had better sell. I 
should have sold at $20 when I was down if you had been 
willing I find it very troublesome to carry on a farm at 
that distance it is so very difficult to get a man that will at- 
tend to and do their duty. I am clearly of Opinion it would 
be to Our Interest to sell and purchase again I am afraid 
our hands will be sickly owing to the Local Situation of our 
Farm. 
All well. Yours etc. 


The season opened very wet on the Mississippi planta- 
tion. The industry of Mayo in clearing land is shown by 
the fact that he had 150 acres ready for planting in cotton, 
which was doing very well for the second crop on the place. 
But it was not possible to plant it all on account of the wet 
weather. Dr. Caldwell’s letter to Polk, written from Co- 
lumbia, April 28, 1836, gives us the following account of 
plantation affairs: 


Dear sir: 

I have a day or two since returned from Miss. and 
Haywood. I left Miss. about the 12th of April I had 
about half my Cotton planted the Balance I dont know 
when the Overseer will get planted owing to the season be- 
ing very wet and part of the Land I intended planting in 
Cotton I am afraid will not be dry enough in time to plant. 
I calculated to plant 150 Acres in Cotton there I am fear- 
ful he will not be able to plant more than 100 I have 


[99 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


planted 125 Acres in Haywood I did not bring Reuben 
from Miss. he had got in tolerably good health, and was 
not willing to come and we needed him there I had to buy 
a Mule for the Haywood place. We made only 20 Bales of 
Cotton in Miss. I have recd. the amt. of the Sale of all the 
Cotton which is $3750 and the Bailing is to be taken out of 
that. Our expences last year was between 21 and 22 Hun- 
dred Dollars. Our crop will fall far short of paying the 
Land payment and Expences Our farming operations thus 
far have not been very flattering and I am afraid we will 
not be able to git in a full crop this year. I am very anxious 
to sell out in Miss. I am afraid that farm will not be prof- 
itable it is too far from home and too expensive to keep it 
up. I left the Cook note at Bolivar with Bills* and wrote 
to Cook where it was, and requested him to pay it. 
Very respectfully yours, 


Early in the autumn of 1836 Dr. Caldwell found his de- 
sired means of escape from the enterprise. He sold his one- 
half interest in the plantation to James K. Polk and Wil- 
liam H. Polk, younger brother of the senior partner. Wil- 
liam K. Polk gave Caldwell a tract of 330 acres on Carter’s 
Creek, in Maury County, Tennessee, which the said 
William had inherited from his father, taking as part of the 
price of this place four of the doctor’s slaves in Mississippi, 
intending it seems to leave them on the Yalobusha planta- 
tion. The memorandum of this transaction is in the Polk 
Correspondence, with date of September 12, 1836, although 
the deed as recorded is dated September 4, 1836. It was 
agreed that the new partners should take control on Jan- 
uary I, 1837. 

1 This letter is filed in vol. 18, Polk MSS., which is the wrong place. 


[ 100 | 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


In the following letter from Caldwell to Polk, dated at 
Columbia, November 11, 1836, we may see with what suc- 
cess the operations of 1836 were carried on: 


Dear sir: 

I got here last night from Miss When I got down I 
found some of the negroes sick and the Overseer they had 
made a Tolerable good crop of Cotton but a very indiffer- 
ent Crop of Corn the overseer had got out but about fif- 
teen Bales of Cotton I discharged him and employed an- 
other I Bot $500 worth of corn It will require that 
amount besides what is made on the place. I had to pay 
$140 down which money I had to borrow the corn is to be 
paid for on the first of January you had better write to 
William to come prepared to pay for the corn you had 
better write to him as soon as you [get] this he ought to be 
at Bolivar by the 2oth of next month He ought to start 
with the negroes from Haywood on the 22nd. It will take 
Eight days to move down. 

Reuben is not well he has had chills and fever this fall 
he is willing to come to Tennessee I think you had better 
have him Brot up. We will make fifty Bales of Cotton in 
Miss. I think, perhaps some more our Bagging and Rope 
had got there. Vanburen Beat White 73 votes in this 
County, Got Beat 6 votes in Fayette. Other counties not 
heard from. I start today to Haywood. 

Yours respectfully. 


William H. Polk was a young man just arrived at his 
majority and was known in Columbia for his fondness for 
good company. His friends seem to have thought that he 
was no match in a trade for his more astute brother-in-law, 
the good Doctor Caldwell. James K. Polk went so far in 


[ 101 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


the same direction as to give the young man very explicit 
instructions for the division of the moveable property on 
the plantation in Heywood County. Probably William 
went there to represent the elder brother, and it seems that 
the dissolution of the partnership in Mississippi was to go 
along with the dissolution of that in Heywood. William 
needed no such warning. He met the doctor in a positive 
manner, letting him know that he was not to be trifled 
with. His letter to Polk, dated at Bolivar, Tennessee, De- 
cember 17, 1836, gives us to understand that he was fully 
protected. It runs as follows: 


Dear BroTHer: 

I received your letter this morning, it having been 
forwarded to Bolivar. I have seen Dr. Caldwell and con- 
versed with him concerning the division. it is my opinion 
that we will settle without any difficulty. He seems dis- 
posed to act upon equitable principles. I gave him to un- 
derstand, in the outset, that he must toe the mark of jus- 
tice, and that nothing else would satisfy me. I shewed him 
the directions which you gave me, which will I have | no 
doubt influence him in the division. 

George Moore and Mr. Walker, had employed a man to 
attend to our business, before I got down. He comes high- 
ly recommended, and Moore knows him personally, he hav- 
ing attended to business the present year for Natl. G. Smith 
who lives at Uncle Billy’s old place. Moore says —and I 
trust somewhat to his judgment — that he has made Smith 
a fine crop, and he is a study man, on whom we can with 
safety rely. 

Myself and Dr. will go into a division of the property on 
Monday next. The Negroes will all start on the day after 


[ 102 | 


The New Plantation in Mississippi 


Christmas. I will start with the Dr. two days before the 
hands, so as to make the necessary arrangements for them 
by the time they get there. Eve will not be able to go with 
the ballance of the hands. I will leave her behind, and 
make some arrangement to have her carried down as soon 
as she is able. I will remain in Mississippi until I see 
everything properly under headway. I will take Reuben 
home with me and leave Julius, keeping him at Tenne. 
rates for hire. You may rest assured that I will do every- 
thing in my power to have things carried on in a proper 
manner. I am decidedly in favour of your getting Judge 
Yell,* to procure for us, a plantation if it can be done in a 
good cotton region. ...... 


George Moore’s name has appeared several times in these 
letters whereby it appears that he was a friend of the 
Polks and that they looked upon him as one who would 
represent their interests on the spot. He watched the com- 
ing of William, younger member of a house that he liked, 
with some concern. The result met his entire approval 
and he could not refrain from writing the elder Polk to ex- 
press his gratification, as is shown in the following letter 
postmarked at Bolivar, Tennessee, and dated January 10, 
1837: 

DEAR sIR: 

After my Respects you and Lady I will in form you 
that Wm. H. Polk is now in Mississippi at your plantation 
he will be up in a few days. I never was more agreeable 
disappointed in a man in my Life than I hav bin in Bill I 
exspected he would be in sutch a hurry to get back to Co- 
lumbia that he would hardly take time to attend to any- 
thing; but he has taken every thing quite patinly and was 


1 See note 1, p. 134, below. 


[ 103 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


vary perticlar in making the divission with Caldwell and 
appears to have his mind entirely devoted to his fairs [? ] 
and will I hav no doubt devote a grate portion of his time 
on his plantation. I could not get C. C. Jones to go to 
Mississippi for you but employed a man by the name of 
G. W. Bratton, that has followed the business of overseeing 
for several years and has considerable standing as a planter 
and manager. 

W. H. P. left my house a few days before Christmas for 
Missis. in order to attend to all the business down there 
by the time overseer and negroes got there. I started the 
negroes and overseer from my house on thursday 29th of 
Dec. I bought 3500 lbs. of Pork for you and Doctor Cald- 
well Let you have 1100 pounds in all 4600 pounds. Wil- 
liam said he would if he needed buy the balance down there 
please inform me what disposition will be made of Texas, 
also of the aucapants in the District, etc. Our White 
friends is as cool as the senter sead of a cucummer. ... . 


[ 104 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER VIII 
The Overseership of George W. Bratton, 1837-1839 


2-@ N the Polk Manuscripts are few records of 
CY) the partnership between Polk and his 
hy/ 2% brother. No doubt William Polk, living 
GOK nearer to the plantation and his mind un- 
B/\E Fi occupied by other matters, became the 

BANU supervising partner and made visits to the 
place. Perhaps the overseer’s reports about the state of af- 
fairs there were sent to him. William was a temperamental 
young man, given to pleasures and not likely to carry 
through by persistent effort a tedious and difficult enter- 
prise. The long ride of more than 200 miles by buggy or on 
horseback was not attractive to him after he had taken it 
two or three times. A stronger reason for his becoming 
discouraged in the Mississippi venture was that he became 
embarrassed in his ventures at home and was in need of 
money there. In 1838 he purchased a farm near Columbia, 
promising to pay $8,000 for it in three annual payments. 
He said at the time that he could sell lands in the Western 
District of Tennessee and pay for it, but when the pinch 
came he preferred to take his money out of the Mississippi 
investment. It resulted, therefore, that November 3, 1838, he 
sold to his brother, James K. Polk, his one-fourth share in 
the plantation and several of his slaves placed in the part- 
nership. It thus came about that James K. Polk became 
the sole owner of the enterprise. 

The overseer through the period in which the younger 


[ 105 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Polk was actively interested, and for nearly a year later, 
was George W. Bratton, whom William H. Polk took to 
Mississippi when the partnership was created. A letter 
survives from him to James K. Polk, dated May 13, 1837, 
in which can be seen a spirit of confidence and sai 
It runs as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I received your letter in good time, which gave me a 
greate plasure to heare tha yo ar comming out here as yo 
wish to know the sise of the crop, I have one hundred an 
fifty acre in cotton and aty or ninty in corn and both corn 
and cotton are as likely as I ever saw and if I hav luck I 
will make corn an nough for the plantation and the rise of 
1 hun Dred bales of cotton if health will admit I hav my 
crop in first rate order at this time as for your plantation 
beleave it a firs rate one if well improved my team ar vary 
weak an one av give out i hav bin forst to by a horse for 
which yo will hav to pay for when you com your negros ar 
all well and has bin well all but dissee [Dicey] she is better 
than when William was hear I cant writ but work com 
down and i will tell yo all about it 


Few letters survive to show the course of operations on 
the plantation in 1837. Whatever reports William may 
have received from the overseer are lost to posterity. Late 
in November, however, he made a visit to Mississippi and 
he described what he found in the following letter to his 
brother dated at Columbia December 2, 1837. It runs: 

Dear BroTHER: 

I reached home a day ortwoago. I would have wnit- 
ten to you from the plantation had I not thought it best to 
defer it until my arrival at home as I would be more proper- 


[ 106 | 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


ly able to give you a detailed account of the situation of the 
plantation. The crop was fairly represented to us, as the best 
in the neighborhood, it has proved itself so. We, it is true, 
had a better stand of cotton, being less injured by the late 
frost in the spring. We will make from seventy five to 
eighty Bales, averaging in weight about 450 lbs., with 100 
Bls of corn to sell, over and above what will support the 
farm, and raise our Pork next year. We have about fifty 
shoats half grown, with an equal number proportioned in 
sise down to suckling pigs, all of which will answer for Pork 
next year. 

The negroes are all well with the exception of Dicy who 
is very weakly, unable to do anything, and Phil who still 
attends to his business but has to be favoured on account of 
a weakness in the Breast. Barbary had a spell of fever in 
the summer, from which she has not entirely recovered. 
Her mother (LucY) says from her complaints of her breast, 
she fears she is going in the manner in which Alston, Hamp 
and Charity did, though it may be only the fears of a 
mother occasioned by solicitude for her welfare. 

I have employed Mr. Bratton for the next year at $500. 
There was no Pork in market when I left Coffeeville. I 
left money, $500.00, with Abbert McNeal to purchase it 
for us. the probability is that it will sell from 6 to 6% or 7 
cts. It cannot sell for more, as I met a great quantity mak- 
ing for that market. I apprised A McNeal, from Bolivar 
by letter, of the number I had met so as to put him on his 
guard against purchasing too soon. From the quantity I 
met on the road making for that place, the market must be 
surfeited, and of consequence sell low. When I left the 
plantation they had made 42 Bales of Cotton, a part of 


[ 107 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


which I had sent to the River and left word for them to 
haul it, as fast as it was bailed, )\. See 


Myself and George Moore have settled our business rela- 
tive to the negro. He attempted by soft words and profes- 
sions of friendship to seduce me into his terms, which he 
saw were fruitless, and at last agreed to pay me my money. 


The reader should not fail to observe the significance of 
the last paragraph in this letter. It will be recalled that 
when William came down to the Western District to settle 
up the business of the Heywood County farm with Dr. 
- Caldwell, it was from George Moore that we had a note of 
relish when the young man held his own and forced a 
favorable settlement out of the hands of the doctor. It now 
appears that George Moore himself had to have a settle- 
ment with this same young man, whom he tried to cajole, 
and, like Dr. Caldwell, found that his arts were in vain. 
William H. Polk was not a fool and he was not to be bullied. 
He was, also, sincerely attached to his brother, the future 
president, and the letters he wrote to him, abundantly pre- 
served in the Polk Correspondence, witness his willingness 
to spend his efforts in behalf of his brother’s political and 
business success. His letter of December 2, just presented, 
did not give James K. Polk as full information as Polk 
wished and William wrote, on February 5, 1838, the fol- 
lowing letter: 


Dear BroTHER: 

In your Letter, which I this evening received, you 
desire me to give you a statement of the expences of the 
plantation for the past year. Itis not in my power to do so 
entirely, as the store accounts which are inconsiderate 


[ 108 | 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


[sic] were not presented to me when down, and if they had 
been, I had no means to pay them, having to incur when 
down other expenses sufficient to consume all the means I 
possessed. The Doct Bill was not presented, of which I 
am unable to tell the amount. Exclusive of these and a 
ballance due Bratton of 250$, my expences, money laid 
out for our joint interest amts to $1385.07) including the 
purchase of three mules, at $100.00 each, and another mule 
bought by George Moore last summer and sent to the plan- 
tation, at $125.00, and the Horse purchased by Bratton, at 
$72.00, and the $150.00 paid to Bratton in part for his serv- 
ices. Also $500.00 deposited with Albert McNeal to buy 
our pork, and other little expences not necessary to mention, 
which will make out the amount stated above. [haveallthe 
articles set down in my book. Albert McNeal has purchased 
our Pork at seven cents. As to the deed I ascertained in 
Coffiville, certainly, that Mr. Wilkerson was not at home," 
and that it would be useless for me to make a trip to Man- 
chester. I wrote to him on my return home and received 
an answer a fiew weeks since. He said he had not the calls, 
and could not make a deed until I sent them to him, which 
I intend doing. I have not been as yet able to make any 
collection for you. Messrs. Caruthers and Drake were off 
in the lower part of the state, or at least some distance from 
home, attending court and I was unable to see either of 
them. The debt in Fayette was not due when I was down and 
I could do nothing with it. The C. C. Jones note, I paid 
over to Mr. Walker for some money which I owed him, as 
you give me the privilege of using any of your money col- 
lected. ‘The money for the rents had not been paid in, and 
McNeal could not pay me any. I told him when it was col- 


1 Tt was from Wilkerson that the Mississippi plantation was purchased. 


[ 109 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


lected to pay himself out of it, for the negro clothing which 
was purchased of him and sent to the plantation last fall. 
Your $125.00 debt on the estate of Gillespie can be saved 
without purchasing the negro. I will use every exertion to 
make collections for you. 

I have purchased since you left Alfred Nicholson’s place, 
near Town. I gave him $8000, payable in one, two and 
three years. There is in the tract 275 acres, 180 of which 
is woodland, which woodland is worth the money and more. 
I am at this time living on it, farming on a small scale. I 
had but one negro to hire. Doct. Dickinson furnished me 
with hands to work it, and a good cook. You I know will 
disapprove of it, and I have no excuse to offer except that J 
Wanted DONE, ini tlie bali 

Please write to me, your opinion about selling our plan- 
tation. I may be after this year constrained to do it, though 
it depends greatly upon circumstances. It may be our in- 
terest to sell, if landed property and Negroes should rise to 
their former fictitious value. You will ascribe my desire 
to sell, to my embarrassed situation, occasioned by the pur- 
chase of this place, on which I now live, but it is not the 
case. I can pay for it by selling my district land. You as 
I said above will disapprove of the purchase, and you are 
the only one to whom I acknowledge the right of disapproy- 
ing. Write me on the reception of this concerning the pro- 
priety of selling. 

William H. Polk was expected to visit the plantation 
twice a year, once in planting time and once near the end 
of the harvest. This practice had been followed by Dr. 
Caldwell and it was followed by Polk, in the main, after 
the retirement of his brother. But the young man was 


[ 110 | 


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ee ee en ce 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


much interested in other things in the spring of 1838, made 
a long visit to Nashville, and put off his proposed visit to 
Mississippi. May 25 he wrote that he intended to set out 
on it in a few days; but he seems to have forgotten his 
promise. Polk then appealed to Albert F. McNeal, of Cof- 
feeville, Mississippi, for information about the plantation. 
The result was that McNeal wrote him on June 15, 1838, 
the letter from which the following extract is taken: 


Cousin JAMEs: 

Your favour of the 21st ult. reached me a few days 
since. I visited the plantation the day after it was received 
and rode over the farm. In consequence of an unusually 
cold spring, it is generally thought the cotton crop in Mis- 
sissippi will not be so good as it was last year, but it is 
difficult at present to say how that will be, much depending 
upon the fall season. The corn crop however will be better. 
Bratton has in cultivation one hundred and sixty or sixty 
five acres in cotton and one hundred acres in corn. he will 
evidently make a better crop of corn than he did last year, 
and I think the prospect fair for a good crop of cotton. the 
stand is equally as good as it was last year, but the cotton 
not so large and flourishing as it was this time last June. 
Bratton says he will make Eighty five or Ninety Bales of 
cotton. He is somewhat in the grass, but promises with 
fair weather, which we now have, to be out in two weeks. 
he seems to have the negroes completely under his control 
now and I was glad to hear him praising them for their 
good conduct. they were no doubt spoiled by the inefficient 
and trifling overseer who preceded him. There has been 
some sickness among them this spring (principally a kind 
of dysentry) and consequent loss of time. the girls Nancy 


Basa 


The Plantation Overseer 


and Elizabeth have not yet sufficiently recovered to be able 
to work. Bratton says he has a hundred barrels of corn 
that he can spare for sale, that the hogs on the plantation 
will furnish from three to four thousand weight of pork next 
fall. this, I think, better than buying. It would certainly 
be well for William to visit YalaBusha at least twice a year, 
say in the spring and fall. Any advice or aid in my power, 
will be most freely given to the overseer. You will do me a 
favour by having the Democratic Review forwarded to me 
at this office with the numbers back if they can be procured, 
as I am very anxious to have the whole of them and I will 
forward the money to the publishers the first Ala. Bill Ican 


The letters from Bratton show that he was a hard work- 
ing man and that he kept well forward with the work on the 
plantation. References to his operations in letters from 
Albert F. McNeal support the idea that Bratton was 
an overseer of more than ordinary capacity. He cleared 
the land in months when the crops did not occupy his ef- 
forts, with the result that the cotton acreage was increased 
and the yield raised so that in good times it went to more 
than one hundred bales. His career ended in death July 
2, 1839. His place was taken by John I. Garner, who also 
proved a good manager. Garner continued in the process 
of clearing land and increasing the acreage, with the result 
that in 1840 the place yielded 134 bales of cotton. Garner, 
however, was accused of harsh treatment of the slaves, and 
it was probably on that account that he was not kept on the 
place after the end of the year 1840. Bratton and Garner 
were both matter-of-fact men. They saw little around them 
but plantation routine and they put little else into their 


(nme 


aa 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


letters. Except for the letter of May 13, 1837, already 
given, the first we have from Bratton to Polk was written 
September 7, 1838, and it is as follows: 


DEAR FREN: 
after my best respects to yo I now will let yo now 

that wear all well at this time your crop is indiferant i 
shal not mak more than a half a crop i will not make more 
than a half a crop of cotton but aplenty of corn 1 hav not 
had any rane since the 20 of May untill the 19 of Augus 
andi hav not had any since with boles a fauling of faster then 
tha cum on the cotton crops in this naberhood ar now dead 
i am now picken out coton barbry picks out one hundred 
and seventy five the resn [reason] 1 did not wright mcneal 
said that he woold wright evry 20 days I have the rise of 
one hundred head of hogs and will be abile to kill three 
thousand and one hundred pounds of pork i ad no more at 
present’ 

September 13, 1838, Bratton sent Polk the following 
equally brief and simple report on the state of affairs on the 
plantation: 


SiR: 

i take the presant time to rite a few lines after my 
respects to you i will inform you that myself and family is 
well the negros is all well i understood from a letter to Mc- 
Neil that you would be down the first of October i wish you 
to not fail to come on last munday Gilbert left home and 
we believe is aiming to git to Dr Caldwell i think you had 
best come by thir for I have serct the neighberhood and 
Cannot hear of him i do not no what took him of unles it 
was becaus he had ben stealing i have not struck him one 


1 This letter is filed in vol. 40 which is the wrong place for it. 


ee cal 


The Plantation Overseer 


lick in a year nor yet thretend him 1 would advis you to not 
sell him for if you do henry carter will be sirten to foller i 
rite no more. 


It was at this time that Polk bought his brother’s one- 
fourth share as has been said. The agreement of sale, 
dated November 3, 1838, shows that William sold to his 
elder brother for the sum of $5,600, the receipt of which 
was duly acknowledged, the following eight slaves: 

Gilbert, a man aged about 30 years, 

, Perry, a man aged about 20) sun 

Marina, a woman aged about 20 
Cloe, a woman aged about 50 
Caroline, a woman aged about 21 
Manuel, a boy aged about 14 
Fan, a girl aged about fe) 
Eliza, a girl aged about 8 

It also shows that on the same day he sold to the said 
James K. Polk for the sum of $2,000 all his interest in the 
stock, hogs, corn fodder, and farming implements on the 
Mississippi plantation. No echo of this transaction ap- 
pears in any of the few letters which Bratton wrote to Polk. 
To the overseer it seems to have made little difference whose 
man he was, James K. Polk’s or William H. Polk’s. His 
task was the same whoever owned the plantation, and his 
reports proceeded in the same unimaginative way. Writing 
to Polk on November 24, 1838, he said: 


Dear sir: 
we are all well at present I shall soon be done gath- 
ering of my crop of cotten I think that I shall make about 
seventy bales of cotten I have made the arrange with 
James Minter and Chisolm agreeable to your request about 
your cotten. There has not no cotten gone of yet the riv- 


[ 114 ] 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


er has not rise yet I think I shall have my cotten all ready 
for shipping by the first rise. 

You rote me that you wanted a good crop made if I can 
have seasones I shall make you as good a crop as you want 
if health will permit and strength If I can keep before I 
can do putty well I think I have keep before this year 

I will make the exchange of negroes at the time ap- 
pointed. Losa died the sixteenth of this month I had good 
atten[tion | paid to her | call in and other phisian to Loosa 
she died with the brest complaint. 

As it respect your cotten that was sunk on the river last 
winter Minter sas he took the insurence polacy out leagally 
and mailed it at vixburge to Harris and Careathers Co 
Minter told me that they got out three or four bales of the 
cotten and was sold for the benefit of insurence company 
not for yours at all an your merchants are a swindled you." 

The collection of damages for Polk’s cotton on a boat 
that sank in the river gave Bratton much concern. The 
allusions to the matter in his letters are not always very © 
clear; but it is always evident that he had his employer’s 
interests much at heart. This affair, with some other or- 
dinary business, he explained at length in a letter to Polk, 
dated December 24, 1838, but not in his own handwriting. 
It seems that realizing his inability to describe the claim 
for the damaged cotton he got someone who was more ac- 
customed to writing to copy and, perhaps, enlarge upon the 
letter which he had in mind to write, it is as follows: 


Dear sir: 
After my best respects to you I have the pleasure to 
say to you that I and family are all well and also all the 
negroes belonging to the plantation. I am almost most 


1 The letter is erroneously filed with 1839, vol. 41. 


[115 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


[sic ] through with the cotton I have delivered 50 some odd 
bales at Troy I think I will get through in a week I expect 
to be able to ship Seventy some odd. The negro that you 
was to to send me | understand that Gee killed him, and 
Julius I sent him to Bolivar a week sooner than I was to 
send him by A. C. McNeel. 

As to the cotton that was lost by the sinking of the boat 
Gladiator last fall was a year ago, I saw Minter a few days 
since he requested me to say to you that a protest was 
drawn up by A. C. Baine Esqr and served on the managers 
of the boat and qualified before Esqr Boon and made oath 
that your cotton was not damaged. the protest was then 
returned by Minter to the Insurance Company and its 
service by them acknowledged. the cotton then was re- 
shiped on the Gladiator belonging to the insurance com- 
pany. after getting up some of the cotton it was then sold 
for the benefit of the Insurance Company. Esqr. Minter 
says that at any time that he is called on he will render 
any assistance necessary. 

I now have further to say to you that I do earnestly and 
wishfully look for one or two negro men as my force is too 
weak for the place at best as one of the women will be of 
little or no service in April and May if you can in any way 
send your waiting boy here I have no doubt-but he will 
make a good hand. If you cant get him here try and swap 
him with Wm for the one he took away. T. R. Reed has 
never wrote to me respecting the bill you sent him. I have 
made a punctual contract about the Insurance of the pres- 
ent crop please write immediately. 

Yours Respectfully,” 


The results of the year’s operations were set forth in the 


1 This letter is filed in volume 42 which is incorrect. 


{ 216) 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


following letter from Bratton to Polk, dated January 25, 
1839: 
DEar siIR: 

I have received your letter dated the 23 of decem- 
ber i now inform you that wee are all well the negroes is 
all well i have finished the Cotton crop and has delivered 
it all at the river i made seventy four bailes i have killed 
thirty eight hundred pounds of pork i am better than half 
done making the Cross fence i have got my cotton land 
the half of it cleaned up and is running four plows i have 
marked you 38 bailes and the bail numbered 38 is your tole 
cotton 1 send you your bill of laden the mule that julis 
rode to hardaman i instructed alferd McNeil to sell it for 
one hundred dollars i have not saw McNeil since he re- 
turned but when I see him i will rite to you whare he left 
it thaire is five of your bailes that has not left troy yet 


By “cleaning up” the cotton land was meant clearing it 
of the stalks left from the preceding year’s crop. The com- 
mon way was to knock the stalks down with bludgeons on 
winter mornings when the ground was frozen. At such 
times they broke off easily. If cold weather did not come 
they must be cut off with hoes or other implements. Where. 
the previous growth was rank it was found advisable to 
burn the stalk after raking them into piles.. Under ordi- 
nary conditions it was sufficient to plow them under. 


Selling his cotton through a commission merchant at 
New Orleans, or elsewhere, was an interesting and impor- 
tant phase of the planter’s business. In another place in 
this book’ the subject will be presented with some degree 
of fullness. But at this place will be inserted the following 

1 See chapter XII. 


[ 117 ] 


~The Plantation Overseer 


extract from a letter from M. D. Cooper and Co., Polk’s 
New Orleans agent, dated at that city February 12, 1839, 
in which we may get a useful glimpse of the relation be- 
tween planter and commission merchant. The extract is 
as follows: 


priate We received 34 Bales of your cotton last week. 
Since its arrival the weather has been very unfavorable to 
outdoor business. a day or two before its arrival there had 
been very heavy transactions in the Cotton Market at 
prices in favour of the holders from %4 to 34 cent, since 
which time the Market has been rather calmer. Upon 
Sampling your Cotton we find the Staple and Colour good, 
but it is rather trashy. We ask 14 cents for it, having great 
confidence in the firmness of present prices, and anticipat- 
ing favourable accounts from Liverpool which we are daily 
expecting of a late date, we will not take less, although it is 
a fraction above the present market. The Yazoo and Yal- 
lobusha Rivers are now navigable, and we will look for the 
balance of your Cotton shortly. if we make a sale, in time 
for a letter to reach Washington by 1st March, we will for- 
ward you acct. sales there, if not to Columbia. Your Bill 
of Groceries shall receive due attention. .... 


March 13, 1839, Bratton made a report to Polk in the 
following words: 


Dear sir: 
we are all well at present and at work as hard as we 
can drive I have commenced planting of corn on monday 
morning and I think that I shall get nearly done planting 
of corn this week if the weather holds good I can plant all 
of my crop in good time I am planting a good deal more 
land this year than I did last year with the calculation of 


[ 118 | 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


them hands you promised to send me when you come home 
and you must not fail to bring them if you do I cannot 
tend my crop. the mule that Julius rode to tennesse is at 
James Walkers plantation the produce that he sent on all 
come safe but one plow mole. 

I want you to buy me a negro woman young and likely 
and be sertin that she is sound on the best terms you can 
bring her down with you and I will work her on the plan- 
tation this year. 


The second paragraph of this letter doubtless referred to 
a negro woman to be bought for his own property, to be 
hired out. The idea shows that he was looking forward to 
the time when he should be a planter on his own hook. 


The next report made by the overseer to Polk is dated 
May 31, 1839, and it is in the following words: 


Sir: 

i will inform you that we are all well at this time 
the negros is all well only maria she has bin in bad helth 
since the first of march and is likely not to be able to do any 
sirvice i have the promisingist Crop that i have had since 
i have bin in the miss i will finish in a few ours going over 
the cotton the first time and 1 am going over my corn the 
third time the mule that you sent mei can not sell it for 
what you give for it an i will keep it untill you come my 
negros and mules is all fat and you think go a hed andi 
say goa. hed and a good Crop i[s] the object 

Thir is a lot of negros to be sold in coffiville the first of 
August and for cash and i expect will be barganes to be 
bought and wish your assistance Your friend 


And June 4 we have this brief report in which echoes the 


[ 119 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


feeling of weariness which had come to pervade his being, 
the last he was to write. It ran as follows: 


DEar sIR: 

Myself and family is only but tolarable well we 
have ben sick a grate [deal] all this year the negros is 
complaining a good many of them maria is down and is 
like to be elizabeth has done nothing since Crismas i do 
not think that [they] are dangerous 1 have a first rate cot- 
ton Crop and the corn is good but it is sufering seriously 
for rain rite to me when you will be down in this country 


Then came the end: July 2, 1839, James Cowan, who 
owned a plantation near Polk’s in Mississippi, wrote as 
follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I have been here for some two months on my farm, 
and my place is entirely healthy, and the neighbourhood 
generally except the Bowel complaint, which has been very 
prevalent, and fatal in many instances. The Crops of Cot- 
ton are generally fine, the corn has suffered much for rain, 
but if we are blessed with it in a few days, it will be a fair 
crop. 

The object of this short epistle, is to inform you that 
your manager, Mr. Geo. Bratton, died this morning with 
the Bowel Complaint, and perhaps the fever in addition. I 
learn that his wife is not expected to live. I also learn that 
your agent, Mr. McNeil, is absent on a visit to Tenn. Un- 
der all these circumstances, I regret, that I do not know 
how I could serve you agreeable to your wishes. Managers 
are scarce, and good ones not to be had, and bad ones worse 
than none. Upon the whole I would advise you to send 
some one from home, on receipt of this, for if you do not, 


[ 120 ] 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 


whoever takes your farm, now, will want your crop for pay. 
I expect to leave for Mount Holyoke, Hy. County, Tenn..,’ 
in a few days, say two, after a long absence. If I was not 
so situated, I do believe I would see and do what I thot 
right for your Int. and that of Blk family and take the 
Responsibility. please be assured of my good wishes for 
your prosperity, here as well as elsewhere, and be assured 
that nothing would afford me more pleasure than to serve 
you or anyone else under similar circumstances. ... . 

I merely write you this hasty sketch as the stage will pass 
in a few minutes. in the mean time I’ll send my overseer 
over this evng, to see how matters are, and may inform you 
by next mail, which will reach you 4 days later than this. 
MCneal being absent, | thot it a duty due you or any one 
else to give you the earliest information. 


The Mississippi neighbors were a friendly set and they 
did not spare themselves in helping out in what was a dis- 
tressing situation. S. Bell, another of these neighbors, add- 
ed to the information given by Cowan. In a letter written 
July 7, 1839, he describes the situation as follows: 


Dr. sir: 

A. T. McNeal being at this time from home on a visit 
to Tennessee | deem it expedient to write you a few lines to 
acquaint you of the situation of your affairs in Mississippi. 
Your Overseer died a few days since. Dr. Towns living 
near him was his attending physician. Seven or 8 of your 
negroes have been quite sick with the same disease (Bil- 
lious Dysentery), but all have recovered or are now con- 
valescent save one (Caroline) and she I consider not at all 
dangerous. Mr. McNeal being absent I took upon myself 


1 TI can find no such place on the map of Tennessee. The county was perhaps 
Haywood.—Editor. 
[ 121 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


the responsibility of riding down to your farm and employ- 
ing a young man to take charge of your interest until Mr. 
[McN]’s return. The young man is recommended as one 
of steady and industrious habits. 

You have a prospect for an abundant crop both of Corn 
and Cotton. The growth is large and in good order. If 
you wish any directions about the management of your 
farm, write to me and I will take great pleasure in attend- 
ing to the same. 

Respectfully, ete. 


Another phase of the matter was taken up by J. T. 
Leigh, whose plantation adjoined Polk’s. It related to 
Bratton’s widow, who was left in a pitiable condition. She 
appealed to Leigh who, on August 13, 1839, wrote to Polk 
as follows: 


Dr. Sir: 

Mrs. Bratton (widow of your late Overseer Geo. 
Bratton) requests me to write you to inform you of her 
present situation. She has had to leave your place to make 
room for the overseer who succeeded her husband. She 
has removed some 8 or 10 miles off in the neighborhood of 
Coffeeville, is poor and in want of money to procure neces- 
saries to live on, is anxious to know whether you will come 
down to your plantation this fall and at what time. She 
wishes to see you for the purpose of settling her husbands 
accounts and to obtain money to live on. She left with me 
a book containing some accounts, and some of her hus- 
bands papers (I reside adjoining your plantation). If you 
will inform me at what time you will be down I will send 
for her to my house, where I will be glad to see you. 

Respectfully yours. 


fina) 


The Overseership of George W. Bratton 
Your crop is very fine. Direct to Oakachickama P. Office. 


It was now necessary for Polk to have a new overseer. 
Evidently he did not approve of the young man so readily 
placed in charge by S. Bell until the return of McNeal. He 
sought for a man in Tennessee, or in the adjacent parts of 
Alabama. At last he made an offer to George W. Meek, 
who wrote from Athens, Alabama, about sixty miles south 
of Columbia, Tennessee, August 24, 1839, declining the 
offer with a great deal of unwillingness. He said: 


Dear Cot.: 

I hope you will not think the disapointment that oc- 
cured between us last monday Evening as intentional on 
my part. from the offer you made me, I enclined to live 
with you had not Mr. Crofford considered me engauged to 
him previous to our interview. If you do not engauge any 
boddy for the next year and I can consistently get off from 
Mr Crofford I will yet live with you. perhaps you can get 
a man to gather the present crop that will not engauge for 
the next yeare, or if you should get a man for boath the 
ballance of this and the next year, and you should still de- 
sire it I will live for you the next year, that is if I should 
not live with you in the year 40 (If I should live) that is I 
will in 41 if I cannot get of from Mr. Crofford for the next 
year. these things you need not mention to any body, and 
you can write me at Charleston, Tallahatchie county Mis. 
I came here on business and I think that I can let you know 
as soon as | get down to Mis and time enough to make an 
engaugment. Respectfully yours 


Billious dysentery, which proved fatal to Bratton, was a 
common disease among the ignorant whites of the South. 
It was due, no doubt, in a large degree to bad food and the 


[ 123 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


prevalence of malaria. The strong diet of bacon and corn- 
bread, persisted in throughout the winter months, broken 
with the coming of summer by fresh fruits, which were 
often eaten to an excess or before they were thoroughly 
ripe, made digestional diseases very common. Men like 
Bratton, who were not bred to control appetites, yielded to 
the habits that made life a series of formidable dangers. 
Once involved in illness they had little ability to right them- 
selves. A man must have food and it was natural that he 
should go on eating what he had been accustomed to eat. 
The doctors might prescribe remedies. It was often im- 
possible to give the patient what he needed most: well 
cooked and nourishing food. 


[ 124] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER IX 
The Overseership of John I. Garner 


x) FTER further searching Polk found a man 
to his like in John J. Garner whom he 
j) seems to have installed at the plantation 
4 early in September. He was a man of in- 
dustry and he had a clear head. He was 
as illiterate as Bratton and his period of 
direction is not distinguished by any striking conduct. His 
letters are full of routine affairs, with a little more tendency 
to elaborate upon the ordinary news than Bratton’s showed. 
In one respect we find a break in the routine. After he had 
been on the place a year, or more, we begin to read that 
there were runaway slaves. Such a statement meant, un- 
doubtedly, that he was not very successful with the slaves. 
As the weeks passed it became clear that he faced a revolt 
against his authority, and along with this news went 
charges that he was whipping unmercifully. It was prob- 
ably on this account that he was discharged after serving 
on the place a year and four months. 

Garner’s first report to Polk was dated September 10, 
1839, and it ran as follows: 

DEar sIR: 

I received a letter from you on yesterday giving mee 
some directions how to manage your bisiness on this place 
which I was glad to receive also to now what is wanting 
onthe plantation there was when I came here 31 yeards of 
lincy cloth was all the cloth of any cind. I will want 


[125 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


one hundred yards of lincy and the same of cotton for shert- 
ing twenty one pare of socks is wanting there is one pare 
here only twenty two pare of shews three pare of No 10, 
eight pare of 9, ten pare of 7, one pare for a little girl seven 
or eight yers old if they are not a good lot of shews you 
had beter send more than will shew them onst a round I[ 
want some three or fore Barrels or sacks of salt for the next 
year 

Our crop of cotton are cut short from the drouth which 
we have had to what it wold of bin when I came here there 
was a prospect of a hevy crop I think it is ingerd a third at 
beast on the ridges near half our corn crop I suppose is 
something better than last yeare but the cuantity I cant 
say yet not nowing the cuantty of acors in corn not so 
mutch as last year. when I gether it I then can give you a 
purty corect noledge of the cuantty I have thirty six thou- 
sand lbs. of cotton out and are gining at this time will bee 
able to make some bales this weak I think owing to the 
drouth I can get the crop saved in a reasnoble time with 
the hands thats here it ought to bee saved in time to repare 
the fencing a round the farm it is so indiferent that 1 am 
pestered to ceep the stock from destroying the crop your ne- 
grows are at this time helthey withe the exception of the 
girl Marier which has bin in bad helth for some time I 
think here helth improving when I came here there was 
some three or fore lying up without a cause though I have 
not been pestered cence. it recuire a person to lern the dis- 
position of a negrow to manage them. I will while in your 
employ attend strictly to your instructions so far as I am 
capible that is for you to judge of when you come down. 

Yours respectfully, 


[ 126 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


From a letter by William H. Polk to James K. Polk, 
then in Washington, we get evidence of Garner’s quality as 
an overseer. It was dated at Columbia, October 28, 1839, 
and in part it is as follows: 


Dear BrotHer: 

Mr. Trainum arrived here on yesterday. He is now 
with me. His account of your plantation is very encourag- 
ing. He says that thirty three Bales had been made when 
he arrived at the plantation, ninety one thousand pounds 
of cotton had been picked, inclusive of the 33 Bales. He 
said they commenced bailing again the morning he left, and 
according to his computation they have by this time 53 
Bales. He thinks you will make 130 Bales, at the Jeast 
calculation and your overseers opinion is, that there will be 
more than 130. Your overseer sends word that he will have 
by the 25th of December, 100 Bales at Troy ready for ship- 
ping. He says your overseer commenced in the right way, 
and has the negroes under fine command. Trainum is of 
the opinion that he will do you full justice he says that he is 
industrious, and attentive to his business. Trainum esti- 
mates your Pork, which will be made on the plantation, at 
4500, and that six thousand pounds will be sufficient to fur- 
nish the whole plantation. According to that account you 
will have to provide 1500. The account which I give you, is 
the account which your overseer, gave Trainum, which ac- 
cords with his own observations. He says you have sixty 
shoats, which will do for next years use, besides many small 
pigs. You will make 400 barrels of corn. Yours cows etc. 
are all in good order. Trainum says you were deceived in 
the whole negro property which you purchased of Harris. 
Allen he says is at least 45 years old, and says he cannot 


[ 127 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


perform a hands /abour. West Harris is now in Philadel- 
phia. he is at this time probably on his way home... . 


Garner’s report of November 3, 1839, gives us the evi- 
ence that the plantation was prospering. It shows, also, 
that his predecessor had made a good beginning of the crop, 
which a favorable season had brought to successful ma- 
turity. His letter runs as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I Take my pen in hand to say something of the af- 
fares of your plantation in yalabusha county I shold have 
written to you sooner had it not bin for a hurt that I re- 
ceive in the wriste from the fawl of a mule. We are enjoying 
the best of helth at presant bothe my famaly and the ne- 
grows are entirely helthey and I think we are getting along 
verry wel a saving the crop I have seventy fore bales of cot- 
ton packed fifty fore of them delivered to Chisholm and 
Winter and I think a nofe picked out to make something 
about one hundred foour hundred pound bales, and I think 
if the weather continues good until chrismos I can have 125 
bales of cotton packed and delivered to troy your crop of 
cotton is turning out fare better than I though when I came 
here I will ceep your cotton halled off as fast as I packit I 
cant say how many bales you will make but I think the 
wrise of 125 bales I have stoped picking at this time for the 
purpose of gethering the corne Mr. Tranum and myself 
thought perhaps it wold make fore hundred Barrels of 
corne I have gethered a little part of it and think wil 
hardley gow that mutch I can give you a purty corect 
noledge in my next letter we also made an estimate of the 
cuantaty of porke made we estimade it at 4500 lbs. we 
thought 6000 lbs wold bee little a nuf to serv the plase there 


[x28 j 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


is a fine chance of shoats here for the next yeare if they have 
any attention to them. The Boy charls you sent down last 
spring run away some fore weeks agow witheout any cause 
whatever I think he has goun back to tennessee where his 
wife is | am pestered withemareners conduct stroling over the 
contery and corect her she goes to sqr Mcneal for protection 
with them exceptions we are dwoing wel the negrows you 
last sent down apere to dwo very wel the boy allen apere to 
bee weakly at this time he says caused from a mans stab- 
ing him before you bought him. | havent yet put my hogs 
up tofatten bin weighting for rain putthem up they wold 
bee in a bed of dust if it donte rain soon I must tri them 
up as they are to fatten with corn entirely I will conclude 
by saying your directions shal bee punctialy attended two. 
Yours respectfully 


On November 23 Garner made further report of the pro- 
gress of affairs on the plantation. A favorable season was 
permitting the steady gathering of the crops and both cot- 
ton and corn were coming out satisfactorily with the pros- 
pect that a fine store of bacon would be laid up for use the 
next year. The letter runs as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

After my respects to you I wil inform you that we 
are all wel at presant bothe my famaly and the negrows 
Phil got his hand caught in the gin a few days after I wrote 
to you cut his hand very bad but has got very near wel 
I have not yet herd anything of charles I have cept a look- 
out for him and wil continue so to dwo_ the boy allen has 
aperently not bin able for hard servis sence he has bin here 
and I believe caused from the wond which he received in 
the side before he came here [I got] Mr. Walker to look at 


[ 129 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


him a few days a gow and he thought with myself that it 
wold not dwo to put him to hard work yet 

I have gethered the crop of corn and agreable to the wag- 
gon I hald the corn in there is three hundred and fifty barrels 
of corn fel shorter than myself and Mr Tranum estimated 
I have packed 102 bales of cotton them weighing 41,993 
lbs, making 410 lbs. and something over to the bales, and I 
think there will bee thirty bales more, twenty five at least 


N. B. I think if I have luck I shal make 4500 or 5000 
Ibs of pork I have forty hogs fatning and a plenty of young 
hogs for the next year. I have agreed with sqr Mcneel for 
the next year for this place and I shold like for you to bee 
at your plantation as soon as convenient after chrismos as 
I wold like to have your advise on sertin things. your 
friends here speak if this beeing a sickly place from some 
cause and speek of its beeing proper to moove the cabins to 
some other point convenient to the farm I have omited 
stating how many bales delivered to Troy 84 of them deliv- 
ered and three days more I wil deliver the others 

Yours respectfuly 


December 25, 1839, Garner wrote again in a brief letter 
relating to the insurance of the cotton shipped to New 
Orleans, the renewal of his own contract for the next year, 
and the return of a runaway to the plantation. It runs as 
follows: 


Dear sir: 

I received your letter a few days agow dated the 
14th of november. my famaly was not in a condishun to 
live to gow to Troy to lern whather or not the inshurence 
was affected or not Mr. Chisolm and Minter agent in troy 
informed mee that all cotton is inshured unless a man says 


[ 130 | 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


not inshured there is open polacy to that affect and they 
wrote to your comisheon merchant in new Orleans to in- 
shure it as a speticial contract that it should bee inshured 
certain I intended saying to you in my last letter that my- 
self and sqr Mcneel, had agreed for another yeare it was 
neglect in mee that I sayd nothing about it I persume you 
have received a letter from sqr Mcneel before this time to 
that affect N. B. Charles came in the 5th of December 
and the ballance of the negros ar wel and we have got 130 
bales packed and I will get done in some fore or five days 
more picking I have kiled three thousand nine hundred 
lbs of pork and have nine hogs to cil yet nothing more at 
presant Yors respectifuly 


The escape of Charles to the woods had caused James 
K. Polk much concern, and he wrote to his brother, William 
H. Polk, to make inquiries for the man around Columbia 
and in the region where Charles had been born and brought 
up. William’s reply gives us an idea of what migrations 
had been made by Charles in his brief existence. In con- 
nection with other letters in this collection it also has a 
bearing on that contention so often made by some South- 
erners that nobody sold his slaves unless they were “bad ne- 
groes.” While these letters do not show that Polk sold his 
“good” slaves they do show that he was continually buying 
slaves, which means that someone else was selling them. 
The letter of William H. Polk to James K. Polk about 
Charles was written from Columbia, December 30, 1839, 
and runs as follows: 


Dear BRoTHER: 
I have been delayed in answering your Letter, by 
not being able to see Mr. John L. Smith and obtain, the in- 


[ 131 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


formation which you requested in your letter, relative to 
your negro Boy Charles. I this day, saw Mr. Smith, and 
he informed me that your Boy, the year you bought him 
was hired to Mr. Hatch Esq and would refer you to a Mr. 
Dickerson the son-in-law of Capt. Jones as a person who is 
well acquainted with the Negro. Also Matthew Rhea and 
Mr. Fain. That the Mother and family connexion of 
Charles belong to the family of Cox’s near Cornersville. I 
will in the course of ten days, ride up to that Neighbour- 
hood, and endeavour to catch him, if he is there, though 
Smith is of opinion, that he is still in or about Somerville. 

My circumstances are such at this time, that I cannot 
afford to buy Reuben at any price for cash. But if it would 
suit you I am willing to give the Jast note which you owe 
me, which note amounts to one thousand and eighty three 
dollars. That is more than your cash price and the interest, 
which would amount to $1062. If you are willing to ac- 
cept this proposition, you must let me know in a day or two. 
Reuben informs me that you give him the privilege, if I do 
not buy him, of being hired at this place, if he could find 
anyone who would give a fair price for him. he informed 
[me] late this evening, that Mr. Fisher the Druggist, was 
willing to give $130 for him next year. That is a fair price 
for him according to the rates at which negroes are hiring 
here. I would like to have Reuben, and I think the price 
which I offer is a very fair one, though it may not suit your 
present necessities. 6%... . 


These necessities had not been met a year later, and 
William was again urged to sell one of Polk’s slaves to get 
money. The reply of William, December 4, 1840, in part 
is as follows: 


[ 132 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


Dear sIR: 

Having been unable to see Genl. Pillow until today, 
I could not answer your letter with the required informa- 
tion concerning Herbert at the time you requested. I con- 
versed with him and Mr. Young today, they looked at Her- 
bert, but would make no definite offer, further than that 
they would give six hundred dollars cash for him. I in- 
formed them that you would not under any circumstances 
take $600. They then informed me that they would prob- 
ably give $650 cash. I of course refused it — though that 
is the price now given for likely negro fellows — until I 
could write to you and ascertain what you would do. For 
cash I do not think he can be sold for more, there being so 
fiew persons who desire to buy negroes... . . 


Polk’s Mississippi plantation was now paid for and it 
was yielding a fair income, sometimes more and sometimes 
less, as the seasons were good or bad, and as the price of 
cotton rose or fell. But he was deeply engrossed in politics, 
and he was heavily obligated to his party associates in the 
canvasses. In 1839 he brought to an end his fourteen years 
as a member of the national house of representatives, in 
two of which he had been speaker. In the same year he 
became governor of Tennessee after passing through a 
hot campaign. These activities had drawn on his purse 
heavily and he was in need of money. To sell a slave would 
give only temporary relief. James Walker, his brother-in- 
law, in a letter dated December 30, 1839, summed up Polk’s 
situation as follows: 


Dear sir: 
William I presume has not written you respecting 
Reubin. He says he does not think he can buy him, unless 


[ 133 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


it is upon your two year note, Speaks of offering you $1000 
for him on that note. This would be equal to about $700 
cash as his hire certainly ought to be good for $150 pr. an- 
num. I have told him if he would not take him as Cash 
now, he ought at least to go down to the District and turn 
Harry into money for you which can be done, I think, if 
there was anyone to attend to it. He says he will go to 
Cornersville to see if anything can be heard of your runa- 
way negro, but I think this is uncertain unless you urge him 
to it. I have thought a good deal about the aspect of your 
Cash affairs. If you get what you expect from Yell’ with 
what bank accommodations you may get you can get on 
and relieve yourself by degrees. The difficulty is that the 
whole amount of your debts are pressing down upon you at 
once. You ought, if practicable (and I think it is) to get 
your debts so arranged that you could pay them in instal- 
ments, reducing about $2000 pr. an. Your plantation would 
supply this, pay its own expenses, and supply I presume the 
deficit of your expenses beyond your salary......... 


On the Mississippi plantation the work went on as usual, 
Garner keeping the slaves steadily at work. Polk had sug- 
gested that a grist mill might be set up using the horse 
power that ran the gin in the ginning season. Garner 
caught at the suggestion. Writing to Polk on December 
31, 1839, he said: 


DEar sIR: 
I received your letter of the fifth of this instant ask- 
ing my opinion withe regard to a mill atacht to our gin for 


1 Archibald Yell of Fayetteville, Arkansas, judge, member of Congress and 
eventually governor was an intimate friend of Polk’s. Many letters in the Polk 
MSS. witness his loyalty from early years. He resigned from Congress to become a 
Colonel in the Mexican War and was killed leading his regiment against the enemy at 


Buena Vista. 
[ 134 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


the purpose of our one grinding I was glad to lern that 
you was in favor of a mill there is but one thing we need 
as bad as a mill here and that a blacksmith I wold bee 
glad that we cold have boath I mad encurey what the coste 
of the work exclusive of the stones and irons wil bee one 
hundred dollars to attach it to the big whele of the gin I 
am entierly in favor of having a mill so soon as we lay by 
our crop | will have the timber to get and to season before 
the work can be done. 

I went to see Mr. Chisholm and minter I cold not see 
them saw ther agent and he told mee to say to you that all 
cotton was enshured unless a man directed that it shold not 
bee enshured there was open policy to that affect and they 
had written to your comisheon merchant in New orleans 
as a speticial contract to enshure your cotton and I wil see 
them in a day or two there is a prospect of the waters 
wrising I can send 132 bales by the first boats and wil dwo 
sow unless you direct me otherwise by a letter I have but 
some 2 or 3 bales in the patch cold bin done before now 
but the wether is so very bad I cant pick when I can have 
a few days of good wether I wil pick out the ballence of the 
cotton Charles came hom the fifth day of december. 

Yours with respect. 


The time was unpropitious for any operations requiring 
cash, and it was cash that Polk needed. The panic of 1837 
had laid credit low through out the Southwest and business 
had not yet passed beyond the period of hard times that 
follows every panic. Polk’s efforts to sell some of his 
slaves led him to write to Albert T. McNeal of Coffeeville, 
Mississippi, whose reply, dated January 15, 1840, was 
filled with good sense and gives us an interesting view of 
this subject. It runs as follows: 


[ 135 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Dear SIR: 

I acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the Ist 
inst. postmarked the 5th and also that of the 5th inst. 
which came to hand by last night's mail. I wrote to you 
from Holly Springs early in December, and on my return 
to Coffeeville from that place learned that Charles had 
come in. I did not advise you of his return learning that 
Garner had written about that time, and shortly after- 
wards I visited Bolivar, Te., and reached Home again on 
the 8th Inst. I fear I shall not be able to sell Charles. It 
is a very unfavourable time for a cash sale. Money is ex- 
tremely scarce and I have never in my life witnessed “such 
screwing and twisting”* to get it. Charles ought to bring 
$750 or $800, cash. But few men have money and those 
who have it, will be disposed to hold on with the expecta- 
tion of buying negroes low for cash at sheriffs sales before 
and at the Spring term of the approaching circuit courts. 
In consequence of low waters the planters have not been 
able to ship their cotton, nor have they found a merket at 
Home. I have not the least doubt that you might sell 
Charles for good Mississippi funds in Fayette Co., Te., at 
a better price than I can get here, and as it is probable I 
may fail to sell him here you might in the mean time sell 
him there to some one who may know the boy with the 
understanding that it shall be no contract in the event of a 
sale here, which is not probable. I saw Mr. Garner today. 

1 The state of the currency in Tennessee at this time is shown in the following 
memorandum, preserved in the Polk MSS., dated June 5, 1839, and signed by Wm. H. 
vege Richard B. Moore, one hundred and forty-five dollars, sixty Mobile, Ala., 
fifty Tuskaloosa, fifteen Decatur, five Montgomery, five Huntsville, and ten Ten- 
nessee, for value received. 


“Recd. on this note by the hands of James Walker one hundred dollars in hunts- 
ville money. July the 2d, 1839.” 
[ 136 | 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


All are well at the plantation, Addison however in the 
woods. Garner, as instructed, is clearing more land. Your 
crop of cotton (136 bales) is at Troy, ready for the first rise 
in the river. 

Carroll County lies immediately south of this county and 
I practice law there. The first time I visit that county I 
will see Mr. Hamon and get his note with security as de- 
sired. Mr. Hamon ought to. give you about $400 a year 
for Harry, possibly I may be able to get more. A boy of 
his age and such as you describe ought | think to be worth 
$1200. ‘The time has been when he would have sold for 
$2000 here. If Harry be the same blacksmith, who worked 
at the Caldwell place 5 miles from Columbia, then owned 
by Uncle Sam Polk, I remember him we// (tall and muscu- 
lar) though some 18 years have elapsed since I saw him, 
and my recollection admonishes me that I am fast growing 
pmold bachelor. ........ 


P.S. I will visit the plantation Sunday and probably 
we may determine to remove the buildings, etc. 


January and February were important months on a cot- 
ton plantation and a good overseer was as busy then as in 
any other part of the year. It was the time for resetting 
the fences, digging ditches, building or repairing cabins, 
and clearing new ground for enlargement of the cultivated 
acreage. All this work went on this winter, and in addition 
the cabins were moved from their first location to what 
proved to be a healthier place. It was in this season that the 
rains usually came that raised the water in the Yalobusha 
River so that the light draft steamers could come up 
to the nearby landing and carry the year’s crop to New 
Orleans. These activities drew heavily on the time of the 


basz 


The Plantation Overseer 


overseer. Ina letter to Polk dated March 2, 1840, Garner 
alluded to his labors in the following words: 


DEar SIR: 

After my respects to you wil inform you that we 
have moved on the opposit side of the hill from whare the 
houses stood to my stables and cribs which wil bee out of 
my power to move until I lay my crop by or place myself 
backwards in my crop I have got a large potion of my 
cotton land ridged up and are getting along very wel I 
think. I have sowed some twelve or foreteen acors in oats 
on the ridgs and have aded to the farm some forty five 
acors I think Jam aming to put about two hundred acors 
incotton N.B.I went to Troy yesterday and got a bill of 
lading for your cotton it left Troy a few days cence all in 
good awder at the same time and in the same boat, 136 
bales weying 57559 lbs., if I have not made a mistake in the 
calculation of them done in a hurry I am trying to get a 
letter to you a mediately as you have failtocome I would 
of written to you sooner had it not bin that I was looking 
for you every hour for some time I wil now what to dwo 
in a case of this kind herafter write all the time your cot- 
ton wil bee in new orleans in a few days from this time 
perhaps the last of the weak it left here in a boat belong- 
ing to Minter for Williamses landing and wil bee [?] tode 
from there by a sterne boat which wil deliver it there very 
quick I shal continue looking for you until you arrive 
here. ‘Yours Respectifuly 


Shortly afterwards Polk made a visit to the Mississippi 
plantation. He found everything going well and his visit 
had a soothing effect on the overseer. Writing to him on 
May 3, 1840, Garner said: 


[ 138 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


DEAR sIR: 

After my respects to you I will inform you that we 
are all wel with the exception of the girl matilda she had 
child some ten days a gow and is grunting yet, nothing 
serious her child died after some ten or twelve hours, 
from what cause I dont now she has not worked more 
than half her time cence you was here N. B. we are get- 
ting along very wel with our crop taking the whether into 
consideration it has been raining near half the time sence 
you left but I amin hopes from the presant apearence we wil 
have some good wether. I believe I have as good a crop of 
cotton as I ever saw forthe time a year. I will git over hit 
with my hoes in a few days. my fored [forward] corn is 
indiferent owing to the wrain it being on wet low land I 
have to plow when the mules wold mier to the nees in 
places and of course it cant look wel. 

Yours respectifuly 


Garner’s June report, dated June 1, 1840, was as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

After my respects to you we are awl wel except 
marier and Evy marier complaining as usul she has 
spels onste a month very bad Doct Towns is giving her 
medicin I dont think her helth ever will be restored en- 
tierly. Evy has had the rheumatism so she was unable to 
gow about though mucth better at presant she is gowing 
about at this time and I think getting wel fast N. B. my 
crop on dry landis very fine on the lowest wet land it is very 
indiferent drownded from the unusial cuantaty of wrain 
we have had this spring. I have bin trying to make 
arangements with a workman to start the mill and repare 
the big whele of the gin for instance new cogs, and a new 


[ 139 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


band shaft. $100 is the lowest price I can get that work 
done for. I have bin talking to several workmen. I got 
a ginwright to look at the ginstand to see [?] the work hit 
needed and the price hit would cost. hit wants new saws 
the ribs fasing, new wheels, and a new brush, which cost 
wil bee $125 and perhaps a little more he says he can make 
hit as good if not better than when new 

I wish you to write to mee whether to employ the work 
done or what to dwo as the prices apere hye. I wish to 
now a mediately, sow that I can make engagements of that 
cind in time to bwe sertain of the work I havent received a 
letter from your hand cence you left here they may bee 
one in the office, I havent bin to town in some time, I have 
bin cept very bisey. to ceep the grass down in my farm as 
hit has bin sow constantly wraining gras wold not die 
when cut up 

Yours respectifuly 


Six days later, on June 7, the overseer sent Polk the fol- 
lowing long letter in which he dwelt upon several matters 
of interest to those who wish to know what was happening 
on the plantation. The letter runs as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I sent charles to town to mail a letter to you on 
thursday last and to make enquirey for the saws brought 
mee a letter from you dated the seventh of last month, in 
which I saw articles directed from new orleans for the use 
of the plantation. I went to Troy yesterday to see if they 
had come up. they had not, and had not got to Williamses 
landing ten days a gow, and the water is so low they cant 
come to Troy at this time. I am fearful I shal have to 
waggon them from Williames landing which is some forty 


[ 140 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


miles from here, and my waggon is not sufisient to send 
that distance hawling. hit is getting crasy and [its] boddy 
very shacklin indeed. and now [mutilated] cloth. I had 
a notion to have made a cawl on you when here for a new 
waggon but thought as times was hard I cold save this crop 
with the old one though one waggon is not suficient on this 
plantation. for instance hawling away bales and cotton 
out of the farm at the same time which is a blidse to bee 
done. 

My crop is very good considering the season except on 
the wet land there I could not get cotton nor corn to stand 
for the water standing on the land awl the spring though 
not mutch of that cind my crop of cotton on the dry land 
very good and the stand regular and not sufering for work 
though a little gras yet if the wether holds like at this time 
I wil have my crop in a beautiful fixin afew days I havent 
saw but one crop of cotton this spring my crop was far be- 
fore that and Mr. Towns how [who] does bisiness not far 
from mee was over my crop a few days a gow and stated 
my cotton was a better averidge crop than his and I am 
enduce to belive there is none better in the contery the fact 
wil prove hit self in the fall though I have bin cept bisier 
this spring to cultivate the crop than ever before caused 
from the rain and some three neegroes out of the crop the 
best part of the spring. matilda had a child the day before 
I commenced scraping cotton her child died the next 
evening after born I believe caused from her one conduct 
not letting of mee now nothing of hit, until a few minets 
before the burth of the child. I cold not get the old woman 
there in time, her lying up at the same time. Evy has been 
aflicted with a rheumatism some time, was unable to walk 
about I had to have the doctor with her she has [now] 


[ 141 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


got purty wel over hit she wil bee now [use] to mee any 
more this spring she wil have a child in some fore or five 
weeks from what she says I dont expect to put her in the 
farm until after she has hit. 

Mariers helth has not improved any that I can discover 
she says she is worse of a spring she is in a very bad con- 
dishon every thre or fore weks so very bad onst this spring 
she was throne into fits of spasms in which I had to have 
the Doct with her and he think hit very doubtful whether 
her helf ever wil bee restored though he wil if posable I 
think very wel of Doct Towns as a Physitian so far as I 
have tride him I wil take awl posable cear of your hogs 
and stock of every cind. 

Yours respectifuly. 


I wrote you in my letter dated June the first concerning the 
intended mill and the reparing of the gin stand the re- 
paring of the stand with new saws wheel and brush that hit 
needs will cost $125 or perhaps something more I wil as- 
certain when I goin to granada I did not see the bos work- 
man is the reason I cant tel certain the starting of the mill 
and [filing] the big wheel of the gin making a band shaft 
wil cost one hundred dollars is the lowest I can get the 
work done write to mee what to dwo in those cases 


A month later, July 5, 1840, he made further report of 
his operations in the following manner: 


Dear sir: 
I received your letter of the 7th June on yesterday 
the articles which you awderd from neworleans have a 
rived at williams landing I lerned yesterday I wil try and 
make arangements to send my waggon down in a few days 


[ 142 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


I wold like to send with some other waggon if I can swe one 
gowing down as the boy has now noledg of the rout 

The negrows have bin very helthy except marier, ma- 
tilda, Evy. Mariers helth has improved very mutch cence 
I wrote you before though she is better and worse the doct 
thinks I had better not put her in the farm until her helth 
is better Evy has I believe got over the rheumatism and 
wil make two of her self in a few days I cwep her out of the 
farm for fear of some accident Matilda is sick at this time 
though considerably on the mend I thought for some time 
I shold loose her something like the dropsey She tels mee 
that she had the dropsey last fawl sow that had to whip her 
feet and legs with holey busheys to let the water from them 
she is of now account she hasent posatively done mee as 
mutch servis cence she has bin hear as old Ben hasent 
worked more than half her time at best I think we will git 
her patched up again as she has bin before 

my crop is something better than I cold of expected from 
the season it wrained hear awl the time until the last of 
may then cuit sudentley I havent had a good rain cence 
though shours they was a good rain last wensday in the 
settlement but did not retch mee Doct Towns rode over 
my cotton with mee some two weaks a gow stated he would 
give the preference to my crop of any a gentleman in our 
contery past threw the lain a few days a gow stated he had 
been over the contery a good deele, and threw Tallahatchey 
Cty and that part of my cotton was a little better than he 
had seen. my late corn is very good and if I can have a 
few more rains in time | shal make a good crop 

my stock of hogs and catle apere to bwe dwoing wel. it 
was awl that I cold dwo to make the crop with the mules 
owing to the rain in the spring the hevy plowing and them 


[ 143 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


miering awl the while several of them give out in the 
spring part of them two smaw!l for this contery 
I am yours 


Garner’s report for October 4, 1840, was in an optimistic 
spirit. He complained of the drought of the preceding 
summer, which had cut off the crop to some extent. It gives 
us a distinct view of plantation routine at that time. The 
text is as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I take my pen in hand to write you a few lines. I 
have nothing strange nor interesting more than I have had 
the misfortune to loose Elizabeths youngest child I am 
unable to say what was the matter with hit. hit was sick 
some two months. Matilda is stil complaining yet, but is 
able to spin she has not bin in the farm to work cence 
early last spring I am fearful she never wil recover good 
helth again. Marier aperes to enjoy as good helth at pres- 
ant [as] any person Evy has recovered entierly from the 
rheumatism and has got a very likely yong negroe with the 
exceptions of them old standing deseses our place cold not 
bwe beat in point of helth. We have had a cuantaty of rain 
here in the last two weeks hit has defaced our cotton very 
mutch. if hit dose not continue to rain by the last of this 
month I shal bwe able to ship some sixty bales. I cant say 
how maney bales I shal make but I think somewhere about 
the last years crop My corn crop wil bwe short owing to 
the drouth, but a supply for the place I think. I wil gowown 
to ship your cotton in the same wey I did last year unles 
you instruct mee other wise. I think you had better awder 
your baling and rope earleyer in the season as our naviga- 
tion is unsertain sow hit can come to Troy before the wa- 


[ 144 ] 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


ter gets down in the spring hit gives mee mutch ilconven- 
ience with some expence, having but one waggon, and 
wanting that awl most constantly at home 

I am fearful I wil bwe pestered to make my pork this 
fawl owing to the dry sumer my hogs has not done as 
wel as I wold wish grone very little I have fed them as 
mutch as my corn wold bare I indevered to buy nothing 
unles nesserly compeeled to have. 

I am yours 


Then enters again Dr. Silas M. Caldwell, whose com- 
plaints had been so stern against Ephraim Beanland. He 
appears again as the protector of the slave against the re- 
ported cruelty of the overseer. In a letter to Polk written 
at Dancyville, Haywood County, Tennessee, October 20, 
1840, he said: 


Dr. sir: 

Your Boy Henry Carter as he [is] called came to 
my House this morning. he is runaway his reason for do- 
ing so he says the Overseer threatened to shoot him he says 
for nothing your Boy you got from William that he got of 
Webster was shot the night before he left in the thigh by a 
man he had with him by the name of Lea the Boy, Perry 
that was shot could not walk Henry says. he says he is 
afraid to go back I have concluded to let him stay hear 
until I hear from you from what Henry says you have not 
got a good crop of neither corn or cotton 

Resply yours, etc. 

Dr. Caldwell doubtless reported correctly the story told 
him by Henry Carter the fugitive. He did not attempt to 
decide how much truth was in it. In a letter from Garner 
to Polk, dated October 1, 1840, we have the overseers side 


[ 145 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


of the affair and it leaves us with the feeling that more was 
behind. The letter from Garner is as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I received your letter of the second of last month a 
few days cence and hav bin trying to find a waggon gowing 
to memphis to send for the box of shoes the negroes are 
needing them very mutch I am gowing to town to morrow 
and wil posably meet with an opportunity to send for them. 

You wish to lern how the crop is turning out. I think 
from what I have gethered of boath cotton and corn, there 
wil bwe very little difference between this crop and last. I 
have gethered near half of my corn and have to weight un- 
til the ground dry some my waggon mier down in the field 
so that I had to stop I have got sixty bales made and wil 
ship them in a few days if the river is high a nuf. we had 
the dryest sumer I ever experienced and for the last 5 or 
6 weks hit has bin wraining a gradeel wil make me more 
backward in getting the crop out. I have had the misfor- 
tune to loose the work of three of my negroes cence yes- 
terday three weks rhunawey from mee Henry, Gilbert, and 
charls the same boy that was out last fawl so long I think 
they have taken another trip to Tennissee there was no 
difference in the world between myself and two of them 
Henry had become so indiferent about his duty I was com- 
peld to corect him, he resisted and fought mee I awdered 
charls to take hold of him being the nearest but refused to 
dwo so. after Henry and myself [had been] combatting 
some time he got loose from mee and got into the swamp 
wile I was pursuing him Gilbert, Charls, and Perry was 
running the other wey. the only reason was becaus they did 
not take holt of the other boy when awderd I concluded 


[ 146 J 


The Overseership of John I. Garner 


that henry wold try to get his cloths while I was weying 
cotton at night got a cople of men to watch for him while 
watching for him Perry was slipping up and was awderd 
to stand but he broke and he shot him in the legs with 
smawl shot sow I got him, and he is at work. I have but 
very little doubt but what they have gone to tennessee like- 
ly trying for a free state I lern that charls told to the ne- 
groes that he cold of made his escape before if he had bin a 
mind to the ballance of them are wel Marier thinks henry 
wil gow to his old master near sumervill Ten. 
I am yours 


Here ends abruptly the letters from John I. Garner, over- 
seer. Early in the next year we have the beginning of a 
series from Isaac H. Dismukes, now overseer at the Mis- 
sissippi plantation. We are left to infer that Garner, whom 
Albert McNeal had recommended for reappointment for 
the ensuing year, was rejected because Polk believed that 
the stories of the slaves were true. He passed off the scene 
for the same reason that Ephraim Beanland passed, be- 
cause he could not control the slaves without undue harsh- 
ness. 


[ 147 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTERias 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


"ASS seems to have been selected by Albert T. 
os, McNeal. Where he came from is not 


DISD himself little justice, for he was not skilled 
in setting forth ideas. No letters from him are preserved 
for the last years of his employment on the plantation. His 
discharge in January, 1845, was because he had too much 
company and neglected his duties on account of it. The 
first letter from him, dated January 21, 1841, runs as fol- 
lows: 


DEar sIR: 

I now take it upon my self to write you a fiew lines 
to inform you that your cotten left troy the 14 of this month 
for neworleans I did not assertain it until the 19 of this 
month: the remaining part of your cotten is not yet pick 
out for the weathe has been so unfavourable that I could 
not have it pict unless picking it weat for wea have not had 
more than two fair dais since you left hear and they wase 
too could to pick cotten I wil pick it as soon as the weath- 
er wil amit it I pick on it one day and the ground was so 
weat that the hands could scarcely walk through it so if I 
had of pick it weat it would of bin hear yet for wea have 
had no sun to dry weat cotten: I have bin mostly engage 
in the new ground since you left hear when the weather 


[ 148 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


would amit it but there has bin several weat days and 
snow togeather so wea could not work I think that if the 
weather had not bin so very bad that I could of had it 
cleard down to the bridge the pork that you bought when 
down here lost 300 pounds and I saw baker after cilling it 
and wanted him to refund something back but he would 
not doo it: the hands work finely and keep will so, far: the 
best estimate that I can make of the hogs that wea wil have 
to kill another year is between 60 and 70 head concludeing 
pigs and all in and sum of them is very poor and I am 
afraid that I shall loose sum of them as the corn is scarce 
as you noe I paude thomas oliver $74 and there is a bal- 
ance as yet of $12 for the reparing of the brush wheal after 
the first work which you made nothing of the account was 
presented to mea but I did not pay it as I ware not author- 
ize to doo it: I am making arrangements to have some cloth 
made as soon as I can: I am getting milk and butter more 
than I myself make use of the children have some occa- 
sionally wea have noe young calfs as yet nor wea wil not 
have enny until spring I had to write about all these little 
things to make out my letter Nowthing more but remain 
your friend 


For a time Dismukes wrote pretty regularly, dating his 
letters about the first of the month and describing very 
briefly, as though it bored him to write, the routine matter 
of the plantation. Writing on February 1, 1841, he said: 


Dear sIR: 

According to promise I wil now offer you a fiew lines 
wea are all wel with the exception of some little complain- 
ing nouthing though very sereis: I am geting along very 
smoothly with buisness I am now ready to starte my 


[ 149 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


ploughs as soon as the ground gets in order for the bisness 
and should of had a good deal of plough dun if the weathe 
had of bin enny more favourable but wea have had the 
wettest time since you left hear that I ever sean I believe 
I have got all the new ground in order for burning of as 
soon as it dries so it wil burn I have not had enny cloth 
made yet but are makeing evry nesesary arrangement and 
as soon as I can get sum purson to show one of the wimmin 
to weave I wil hav sum made: I have the balance of your 
crop of cotten hear yet but as soon as I can get what is due 
you from Mr. Minter I wil send it of immediately. 


For learning the art of weaving Maria was finally se- 
lected. Her name has frequently been mentioned in this 
series of letters, usually indicating that she was on the sick 
list. She has never appeared as a slave distinguished for 
mental alertness. It is surprising therefore that she should 
so quickly pick up the art of weaving. Dismukes’ state- 
ment in anticipation of her success in learning how to do it 
is so confidently made that we must conclude that the slave 
found weaving an easy thing. In a letter to Polk, dated 
March 9, 1841, he shows that Maria had made such prog- 
ress with the weaving that she was about to get along with- 
out instruction. He wrote: 


Dear sir: 

According to promise I wil now writes you a fiew 
lines to let you hear from mea wea are all wel exsept liz- 
abeth she has bin complaining now for three weaks or 
more but nuthing like daingers I have had 1 pease of cloth 
made the spining masheane has landit [landed] not many 
dais since in the neighbourhood I have not got it home as 
yet but intend to send for it soon marier sais she thinkes 


[ 150 | 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


that she can put in a web now herself and weave it out with 
thout enny assistance: as for my plantation affairs I think 
I am geting aloung very smoothly I shall commence plantin 
now in a fiew daies nuthing more of consequence 


Of all the overseers whose letters survive in the Polk 
Manuscripts Dismukes was the poorest letter writer. He 
did not know how to do justice to himself, being as it 
seems of that class of men whose thoughts congeal when 
they take pen in hand. The two letters that follow show 
the truth of this statement. The first was written by Dis- 
mukes to Polk, April 1, 1841, and the second, presented 
here in extract, was written by Major William Bobbitt, 
who was then acting as Polk’s agent in Coffeeville. Dis- 
muke’s letter was as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I will now write you a fiew lines that you may hear 
from us wea are all well I have got all of my ould ground 
courn planted and it is cummin up but on the last saderday 
and sunday in this munth wea had a tremenderrous rain 
which overflowed and wash up a great deal of it and I ex- 
pect to have most all of it to plant over again unless it cum- 
up better than I expect it will’ 

I am at a lost to noe what to write to you I have com- 
mence planting of cotten I commence today as it is the 
first of april I have noe diffeyculty with my boys. Mr. 
bobit was down to sea mea the other day for the first time 
and I have not heard from you since you left you must 
write nuthing more 

1 Although Dismukes now felt that the rain had done much damage to his crop 


he wrote to Polk on April 9, 1841, “Wea have had a fine time for bisness rain enuff 
and nun too much.” 


[151 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Major Bobbitt’s letter, written on April 5, 1841, was as 
follows: 

MPA OPM yal 3) hk I was at your plantation a few days ago 
and am much pleased with the prospect for a crop. Dis- 
mukes is an energetic business man and I have no doubt if 
the season should be favourable and the health of your ne- 
groes good, you will make a better crop than has been made 
on the place with the same number of hands. The negroes 
and he are getting along smoothly and so far as I can as- 
certain they are well satisfied with the overseer. Health 
good except for one pregnant woman who has been grunt- 


ing some time. 472) e)- 


Dismukes’ letters are not well preserved at this time. 
From one, written on June 1, 1841, the following is taken: 
“Sir I have not got my negrows cloths yet I have sent to 
troy too or three times to see wheather it had got there or 
noe butit hasnotcum.” The clothing forthe slaves should 
have been distributed in the early spring. A letter from 
Major Bobbitt, dated July 16, 1841, runs as follows: 


1 
Dear sIR: 1841 


I wrote you in the spring and have received no 
reply, which will explain to you the reason of my seeming 
neglect. I must say to you in the outset that unless it rain 
in a few days we shall make nothing. We have had no rain 
for two months, and you must judge of the prospect. I was 
all over your farm on last friday and have no hesitation in 
saying Dismukes has done his part and with seasons would 
have made at least 130 bags of cotton and an abundance of - 
corn, and even now with rain I think you will make more 


1 The letter is filed in the volume for 1844, July 16. The name of the writer is 
sometimes spelled “Bobbitt” and sometimes it is “Bobbit.” 


[ 152 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


Cotton than was made last year and corn enough to do the 
farm. 

I have received no more money of Ford than would lift 
the Garner note, for the balance I expect suit will have to 
be brought. Consequently only a part of your taxes have 
been paid. The Collector has agreed to wait ’till August 
for the balance 

Dismukes thinks that in addition to a new Top you 
should have a new press altogether as you desire large 
Bails, and says that it will be impossible to do so with the 
old one. I think the charge very high, to wit $75, and con- 
cluded to consult you on the subject. if a press has to be 
put up the sooner the better, Dismukes says before cotton 
opens, please write me on this subject forthwith. Adison 
is in the woods and has been for three weeks and cannot be 
found. Dismukes informs me he has apprised you of the 
whole matter. upon the whole, I think, you would do well to 
sell him and supply his place with a better and you would 
have the most agreeable set of negroes with which I am ac- 
euraimiceds 


Addison, the fugitive, betook himself straight to the 
house of refuge to which Polk’s Mississippi slaves seemed 
sure to turn in their flights, the plantation of Dr. Silas M. 
Caldwell, near Dancyville, Haywood County, Tennessee. 
Here he received a fair welcome and told his story to atten- 
tive ears. The doctor forthwith wrote a letter to Polk, 
dated July 23, 1841, setting forth Addison’s version of his 
wrongs in the following words: 


Dear sIR: 
Your boy Addison has runaway from your farm 
and is at my house. From the wounds that are on his neck 


[ 153 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


and arms it appears that the Overseer intended to kill him. 


the wounds are well he says the Overseer says he will kill 
him and is afraid to stay there you will please write to 
me what to do with him he has been runaway about four 
weeks I have hired him in the neighbourhood until I hear 
from you Your prospects [political] are as good in this 
county as they were in °39. Saml. is sick 


In the course of time Addison was sent back to the Mis- 
sissippi plantation. But a year later he again took to the 
woods. Writing to Polk on August 24, 1842, Dismukes 
said: “ Adderson kild a short [shoat] while I wass sick and 
thought I would whip him and hea has run of hea has bin 
gone three or 4 dais.” 

August 2, 1841, Dismukes described his ordinary 
troubles in a letter to Polk which runs as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I wil now offer you a fiew lines to inform you sum- 
thing of our health and bisness I shall not bee very partic- 
ular as I expect you down sum time in the course of this 
month* wea are all well at the preasent time my crop of 
cotten lookes very well my cornissorrey my cattle have 
stop dying I lost nine of them thare is nuthing else of im- 
portance the money which you left with mea have given 
out sum time since for I had to pay freait on the bagen and 
rope to the amount of $42.62% I have plied to magour 
bobit and hea has not got eny money by him I stand in 
neade of a niew waggon for this has past repairing 


Addison’s flight from the plantation mentioned by Dr. 
Caldwell in his letter of July 28 inspired Gilbert to flee 
also. He reached the neighborhood of Somerville where he 


1 Polk visited his Mississippi farm about December 1, 1841. 


[ 154 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


was arrested and put into jail. The watchful doctor sent 
for him, took him to his own farm and sent him, with Ad- 
dison, back to the Mississippi plantation. All of which is 
described in the following letter from Mrs. Silas M. Cald- 
well to Mrs. James K. Polk, dated at Spring Hill, Tennes- 
see, August 23, 1841: 


My DEAR SISTER: 

I write you in haste as I am again in great trouble. 
James is very ill of fever he went to stay with his Brother 
took sick we heard that a Boy in jail at Sumerville said he 
belonged tous Dr sent James and Wally to see it was as 
we expected your Boy Gilbert the day was warm nineteen 
miles to Sumerville and back the same day James took very 
ill could scarcely reach home heis pretty much attacked like 
he was at your house three years ago | am so uneasy about 
him this is the fifth day no change for the better he took 
Gilbert out of Jail and Dr. has sent him and Addison to 
your farm from all accounts the overseer drinks and man- 
ages badly wecant tell only from the negroes own tales. I 
leave it with you as Negros mews. ....... 

Brother James had better visit his place soon and get 
another overseer. Mr. Allexander of our Neighbourhood 
is willing to go he would Dr. says do first rate he is a very 
study good farmer out farms all here he is very industrious 
his motive for wishing to go is wifes health he thinks the 
clymate would suit her better by all means you ought to 
get him then you could rely on his as a man of entegrity 
good morals and good manager he owns some six or eight 


N. B. Gilbert has been out a month and in jail a week 
Adison was hired here a month to the man that has now 


[155 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


taken them home that will defray the expense of taking 
them home partly* 

In a letter to Polk, dated at Coffeeville, Mississippi, Au- 
gust 29, 1841, Polk’s friend, Major William Bobbitt, gave 
advice about the suppression of the habit of running away 
and made interesting comments on affairs on the planta- 
tion. The letter runs as follows: 

Dear sir: 

Yours of the 13th instant came duly to hand. I was 
at the farm on yesterday and found that Addison had not 
arrived. Another Fellow, whose name | cannot at this time 
recollect, is out and I expect will endeavour to get to Ten- 
nessee, and I suppose without any just cause for running 
away whatever. I approve of your determination to put a 
stop to it, by making examples of the offenders in every in- 
stance, that is by correcting instead of selling. Mr. J. Leigh 
says no other course will correct the evil. The bagging, ne- 
gro clothing, etc. have all been received, they had to be 
hauled from Cocchuma and Mr. Dismukes says he wrote 
to you on the subject and has not failed to write monthly 
agreeably to your request. 

I was also at Mr. J. Leigh’s on yesterday to ascertain if 
possible whether or not the mill had been delivered and Mr. 
Leigh informed me that it had not been delivered, neither 
his nor yours, that he had written twice to the gentleman 
with whom he made the engagement, and the third letter 
he directed to the agent in Memphis and had received 
no answer from either. If they are delivered in Memphis 
at all, Mr. Leigh says it will be out of his power to unite 
your teams as he has purchased a Gin, or rather contracted 
for one, and he will have a full load for his own team. 

1 The letter is signed L. E. Caldwell [Eliza]. The postmark is Hatchie, Tennessee. 


[ 156 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


Your waggon is worn out, and you will be under the ne- 
cessity of getting one soon, the better way, I think, would 
be to get a Substantial one in Tennesee and ship it to 
Memphis, and if the mill is brought there it can be brought 
down in the waggon. 

I had the Winter Clothing measured, and Mariah says 
there will be about 10 yds., perhaps 15 wanting, which, if 
wanting I can supply upon as good terms as it can be had 
for. Mr. Dismukes informed me that the Winter Shoes 
for the Negroes were all made. 

Your crop of cotton surpasses any crop for the season 
that I have ever seen. It is decidedly the best that I have 
seen in the county. Mr. D. says, if the fall should be fav- 
ourable, he will make as much as he can possibly save. 

Mariah wished me to inform her mistress that she is 
worth at least $30 more than when she left Tennessee. She 
can spool, warp, and weave and with a little more prac- 
tice thinks she will make a first rate weaver. ..... 


Addison and Gilbert arrived safely at the plantation, but 
the spirit or revolt was high in Gilbert. He stayed only two 
nights and one day and then took the road for Tennessee. 
To Dismukes this was a source of regret. He did not like 
the instructions that came to him tending to restrain his 
dealings with the runaways and he laid his side of the case 
before Polk in the following letter dated September 1, 1841: 


Dear sIR: 

I wil once more endeaver to write to you a fiew lines 
that you may hearfrom us wea are all well at the preasent 
time hopeing that thes fiew lines may finde you and your 
family wel I have nuthing of consequence to write to you I 
am now goin own geatherin of the crop I think that I shall 


[ 157 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


make corn anuff to doo the fairm another year. I shall 
make as much or more [| think than was made hear last 
year and my cotten crap cant bea beaten by the neighbour- 
hood Adderson and gilburt got hea a fiew dais since gil- 
burt left mea about the last of July that new nuthing of 
hea got to tennessee the day that the doctor ware about 
starteing of adderson and hea stade there three dais and 
was sent back with adderson and when hea got hear hea 
stade hear two nights and one day and hea left again with- 
out one lik or a short word that ware not sent according to 
your request I should of whip them as soon as they landed 
had it not of bin your request that mr bobit should bea 
preasent though I think that if I had of taken them and 
of whip them as soon as they got hear that gilburt would 
not of run away again soon which I should of dun if I had 
not thought that you would of thought that I would of whip 
them too much though that is what I neaver have dun 
since I have bin dooing of binness and it is what I would 
not doo as to disenable them from work one our my feal- 
ings would not suffer mea to gone as fair as that you ware 
complaining in your letter to mr bobit of my not writeing to 
you though I have written to you the first or the second 
day of eavry month since hear I bin and started the letter 
to the post office wheather charles carried them or noe I am 
not able to say I dont expect hea did though had you 
would of got them I wrote to you about the thinges I got 
from neworleans I got the thinges the mill I have not got - 
nor heard of since mr. pearse left hear mr lea has taken a 
gin and sum other thinges from memphis and wea cannot 
join in sending up as the understanding ware between 
you and him: I wrote you word that I neaded a new wag- 
gon hear and that soon if you would send a waggon down 


[ 158 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


the river to memphis I could then send for the waggon and 
mill bourth at the same time. 

Clothing for the negrows wea have anuff with the ex- 
ception of a fiew yardes which mr. bobit sas his wife wil 
furnish on the best turms. I wil just say to you that I 
learned hear from the negroos that gilbert should say that 
doctor Caldwell wantes to buy him and I expect that hea 
is gone back to him again but do not sell him if you wish 
to brake them from running away for they had reather bea 
sould twise than to bea whip once if hea getes back thare 
have him iron and send him to mea if you please I wil not 
inger him by whiping him I beleave that they believe that 
tennessee is a place of parridise and the all want to gow 
back to tennessee so stop them by ironing tham and send 
them back again and they wil soon stop cumming to ten- 
nesee 


In another letter to Polk the overseer unburdened him- 
self about the same situation and with similar arguments. 
It was dated September 17, 1841, and runs as follows: 


DEar sir: 

I received your letter on en 23 of this month you 
requested mea to write to you as soon as I got your letter 
wea are All well at the present time I am goneen own 
geatheren the crop as fast as posible I have got 10 bails of 
cotten in troy I had my first thare the 14 of this month | 
should of had more pick and pack if the weather had not 
of bin so unfavourable wea hav had a great deal of rain 
hear this faul which has kep our cotton from opening 

I saw majer bobit the other day hea had just received 
your letter hea said that you were very much perplext about 
your negrows runing away and goen to tennessee you will 


[159 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


finde that you wil have to bea the man that wil have to 
stop that amoungst your negrows for you noe that you 
have had men hear of different ages and sises and the runa- 
way from all I think though the plan that you have faulen 
on now will brake them if you wil keep it up for a time or 
too try it for an example though as I wrote you adderson 
ware not sent down accorden to your request had that of 
bin dun gilbert would not of left the second time send him 
as soon as you hear from him for I neade him hear for I 
have got my hands ful to save my crop as fast as it neades 
it. I do not noe wheather or not you want mea or noe for I 
have not heard for the next year and I should like to noe 
as places are filing up hear very fast indeed that I may have 
a chance to get sum of them if you doo not want mea and 
as I have lived hear for small wages this year I shall ask 
you $500 for the next let mea hear from you soon if you 
doo not cum down next month I expect that the mill is at 
memphis at this time and I want to noe wheather or not 
you are goen to send a waggon down to memphis or noe 
that I may send for boath under one you wil want sum 
plowes on the farm for another year and I think you had 
best get them in memphis too it wil take half dozen one 
horse ploughs 
Yours respectfully. 


The following characteristic letter from Dismukes, dated 
February 1, 1842, is the next survival from his correspond- 
ence. It runs as follows: 


DEar sIR: 
I now write you a fiew lines to inform you sumthing 
of the bisiness of the plantation I am geting aloung as 
Comon wea are all well at the present and have bin evar 


[ 160 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


since you left I kildsum more porke about 7oo P more and 
magoer got 3000.88 besides which makes a plenty. I have 
a fine lot of pigs and I shall feede them well if I have to buy 
a little corn to doo it if you say soe you must write mea. I 
am having 7 yardes of cloth wove ady [a day] nuthing 
more at the preaset. 

Yours etc. 


The letter which follows is the only scrap of writing I 
have seen from one of Polk’s slaves. It is written in a very 
uncertain hand by Harry, the blacksmith, who was be- 
queathed by Samuel Polk, the elder, to his son Samuel P. 
Polk, for whom James K. Polk was guardian. Harry was 
sent to Mississippi, where blacksmiths received higher 
wages than in Tennessee, and was hired to planters near 
Carrolton, Mississippi, which was forty miles or more south 
of Coffeeville. This touching letter, dated May to, 1842, 
runs as follows: 


Dear Master: 

As a servant I want to subscribe my freendship to 
you and famley as I am still in Carrollton yet and doing 
good Labour for my imploieer but tho I am filling [failing ] 
in some degrees my Eyesite is falling of me I am well 
treated by my imploryer he feeds well and dont worke me 
Tow Hard I would wish to be remembered to all of my 
people old mistrs esphhirly Tell the old Lady Harry is hir 
servent untill dath I would be gld to see Hir one mor I 
Expect to come out a cristmust to see you the Hardness of 
Times and casness [scarceness] of money is Her[e] and 
will Reduce wages. 

Dear master I Looked for you of Feburary but you never 
come up to Carrollton. 


[ 161 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


Dear master I have Eleven children I have been faithe- 
ful over the anvill Block Evr cen 1811 and is still old Harry 
my childrens names 1 Daniel 2 morcel [Marshal (?) ] 3 
ben 4 Elis 5 Carrell 6 Charles 7 Elushers 8 David 9 Moon- 
rey [Monroe] 10 Carline 11 Opheeler Som Request from 
you please to send me a Letter How all of the people are 
doing in your country Dirrect your Letter to Mr. Edward 
P. Davidson, Carrollton, Miss. 

Harry your Servent 


In the preceding fall Harry had made plans to hire his 
own time and they were submitted to Polk in a letter from 
Cothran and Neill of Carrollton in the following note dated 
October 7, 1841: “Yr. Boy Harry has just applied to us to 
exercise a sort of supervisory controll over him next year, 
if he succeeds in procuring his time from you. Harry seems 
to be a good boy and we have no objection to assume any 
controll that you may suggest. If you make any such ar- 
rangement let us hear definitely what it is. A. T. McNeal 
knows us well.” 

The reader will observe that when Harry was thus pro- 
nounced “fa good boy” he had been a blacksmith thirty 
years and was the father of at least ten, perhaps eleven, 
children. His hire during 1841 was $350 and Major 
Bobbitt writing to Polk August 29, 1841, said that he could 
be hired for the next year for $450. Harry’s efforts to hire 
his own time did not succeed. Polk was receiving too fine 
a return by the existing method. Later on he seems to have 
been working at his trade on the Yalobusha plantation, for 
Mairs wrote to Mrs. Polk January 26, 1852, as follows: 
“Hary has requested me to let you nough what he is dough- 
ing for you I think he is a faithful servent he has Bucked 


[ 162 | 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


[booked] this year $487.76 besids your plantation act- 
count.” 

In another of his characteristic letters, dated May 17, 
1842, Dismukes said “wea are still driveing own,” which 
was quite in keeping with his spirit. The letter was as fol- 
lows: 


Dear sir: 

I will now write you a fiew lines to inform you how 
times is with us hear wea are still driveing own wea are 
all well at the present time and has bin this season which 
I am glad to say as I have as much as | can doo for life I 
will soon bea over my crop again which is the second time: 
my stand of cotten is puty good if it gets noe worse and I 
expect it will not for the cotten is growen at the present 
time: my corn lookes very well: I have nuthing to write 
it will bea a tite squease for my corn to hold out: evry thing 
goes own smoothly soe foir 

Yours in hast. 


Under date of June 1, 1842, we have the following letter 
from Dismukes to Polk: 


DEar sIR: 

I now write you a fiew lines about our health and 
crop wea are all well at the present time: our crop lookes 
very well I consider the stand of cotten puty good at least 
I thinke that it stands well unouf that if wea should have 
seasons that wea will make as much as wea can save my 
corn lokes very well at the present time at least my new- 
ground corn dont look soe well as lexpected I have planted 
the highth of those wet places in corn annd will plant the 
others soon: I will get over my cotte[n] the third time this 
weak I have cotten squairs too and three on a stalk I lost 


[ 163 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


good menny of my piges though my piges and stock of hoges 
lookes very well I have nuthing to write I just had writ- 
ten to you when I received your letter and thought it would 
suffise I am in hopes this will give you sadiste faction for 
the present 


The crop was pressing and the overseer was more than 
busy keeping it free from grass and stirring the soil in or- 
der to enable the young plants to do their best.’ The state 
of his crop depended upon the constancy with which he at- 
tended to it, and the letter of Dismukes to Polk, June 26, 
1842, seems to indicate that he was most constant. It runs 
as follows: ; 


Dear sIR: 

I can say to you that wea are all well at the present 
time hopeing that these fiew lines may finde you and yours 
well our crop is still promising wea have a great deal of 
rain hear this season which keepes mea all the time in a 
push wea have intily too much for cotten or corn eather 
corn is overshooting and cotten is running too much to 
wead soe wea are hard to bea sooted: I am soe much 
push that I have not got time to goe to town to get my self 
a pare of breeches soe that you may noe that I am hard 
run but I am in hopes that the push will soon bea over 
you must cum down next month and bring your lady to sea 
the crop: my corn will hould out I am in hopes nuthing 
more worth your attention evry thing is goen on well at 
the present time Cum down Yours etc. 


As the season advanced the prospect for a good crop in- 
creased, which caused Dismukes much satisfaction, as we 
may see in his letter to Polk of August 16, 1842, which runs 
as follows: 


[ 164 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


Dear sIR: 

I will once more write you a flew lines to inform 
you something of our health and crop our health has bin 
generly good though I have bin very sick for the last three 
or four dais but I have got about again clary is a little 
sick all well ecept her my crop of cotten cant bea beten 
by the neighbourhood all of my early corn is very good 
the drouth hurt my late corn very much. you must be- 
shore to cum down as soon as possible doctor colwell was 
hear about too or three weakes ago hea told mea that he 
would write you and that hea would write you that I had a 
fine crop which you will considder so when you sea it if I 
save it in time you will have to send me a four or five more 
handes that is a shore case for I am confident that I cant 
save it as easy as I have made it wea have fine seasons 
hear now though wea ware very dry hear when the doctor 
was down and evry thing showd badly if you wish to sell 
your land bring the man that wantes to by down with you 
when you cum and I think it is likely that hea will buy from 
the crop that is now grown on it 


September 13, 1842, Dismukes made a longer report than 
usual. Polk had evidently complained of the quality of the 
cotton shipped from the plantation, citing the allegations 
of his agents, and the resentment of the overseer was 
aroused, so that he struck back as he could. His letter is 
as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I received your letters on the 10 of september which 
disaponted mea some what for I was looking for you down 
evry day though I shall not look for you now untill i seaure 
[see you]: Iam induse to believe that your cotten sould 


[ 165 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


very low from the last three letters which I have received 
from you: you did not write me word what your cotten 
sould for though I should like for you to of written what it 
did sell for: cotten from this neighbourhood sum sould for 
6% to 9 cents a pound was the highest and I say yet that 
the first 40 or 50 bails was very nice coten and when you 
wass down hear in november you saw sum of the worst of 
it: if you write to mea again before you cum down write to 
mea what your cotten did sell for and you will oblige mea 
very much indeed it surtenly was sheld up too long or 
sould at a bad time for I have never heard such complaintes 
from noe crop that I have ever geathered before commish- 
eon merchants all wais have sum excuse for bad sails of 
cotten and the ould saying is sum excuse 1s better than nun 

I am goen ahead in geatherin the crop the crop will turn 
out well but I dount think that it will turn out all to geath- 
er as well as I once thought it would though I will put it 
against enny crop in five or ten miles of this plase: wea 
have bin very dry hear ever since the middle of August 
which has cause all of the top bouls to bea very small though 
wea have rain aplenty now and to much too: my cotten 
sead have soe near run out that it is imposible for mea to 
have the cotten as nise as it mout bea if wea had a niew 
supply of sead though I am trying to have it save very nise 
indeed and the gin dos not doo good work it draws too 
many motes through I am trying to have it alterd 1 amin 
hopes that you will bea down soon then you can sea and 
noe for your self about all of the bisness: I dount think that 
you had received the last letter I wrote to you I have a 
very puty stock of young hoges I have not got more than 
32 or three hoges of the large sise we can make our meat 
hear at hom I think though the hoges apart of them will 


[ 166 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


bea very small and I think that it will bea best for you to by 
about 2000 or 3000 poundes of pourk for the next year and 
then you will have a fine stock of young hoges on hand I 
could say a good deal more but I must close the letter at 
the present 


Bad seasons had dogged the steps of hard working men 
in Mississippi for many months and they were left very 
low spirited; but in 1842 came a change. The weather 
changed as it always will change if we but wait long enough. 
Dismukes had a fine crop at last and he got John T. Leigh 
to send the good news to Polk, as though he distrusted his 
crude style of writing to present it effectively. Leigh’s let- 
ter, dated September 28, 1842, is as follows: 


Dear sir: 

A day or two ago I rode over your crop, and at the 
request of Mr. Dismukes, I write you an account of it. It 
is I think the best crop of cotton I have seen this year, is 
now opening most rapidly, and Mr. D. appears to be ex- 
erting himself to save it nicely, tho I do not think the gin 
motes it well. he is opinion to save it as nicely as he wishes 
that he will not be able to gather it all in time, tho I think 
that will depend altogether upon the season; if it is not 
favourable he cannot: he requests if you have any spare 
hands to aid him you will do so. I have no doubt that by 
gathering the crop as early as possible it will be of much 
better quality and will command a better price. The greater 
part of the corncrop is very good. some of his late corn 
particularly the new ground is not good it suffered too 
much by the dry weather during the month of July we had 
no rain during that month. Your hands have been very 
healthy. I do not think the Doctor has visited them but 


[ 167 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


once until yesterday one of your men Adison (I believe) 
came over to see the Doct complaining of being sick. The 
doct prescribed for him and has I believe visited him today. 
The whole neighborhood has been very healthy. Corn crops 
the best I ever saw and cotton crops generally good. My 
own cotton crop is not I think as good as my neighbors. 
my corn very fine. my family have enjoyed good health 
white as well as black. County people quiet and easy. | 
believe as little disturbed by debt as any part of country. 
Some debts paid by the Bankrupt law, many by going to 
Texas. By both combined the greater part of the heavy 
debts ‘have been settled. yc) oa. 


After Leigh had broken the way Dismukes wrote also, 
adding what he thought necessary, and on the whole toning 
down the most optimistic parts of Leigh’s communication. 
His letter is dated October 4, 1842, and runs as follows: 


Dear sIR: 

I will [write] you a fiew lines to inform you some- 
thing about our health and crop wea still have sum little 
sickness adderson have bin puty sick but is on the mend 
I shall loose more than three or four weakes with him the 
have bin more sickness hear in the cuntry than last year 
the fositions has bin bissey hear this season. I am still doo- 
ing all I can in geatherin the crop I nead sum six or eigth 
more handes to help geather it than I have made it with 
that is to save itin time the highth of the crop is now open 
and you noe they will a great deal of it faul out before I can 
save it with what handes there is hear though I am in- 
hopes you will let goe evrything and cum down soon I 
should like very much if you could sea the crop at this time 


[ 168 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


though you must not let what nuse you hear about the crop 
rais your expectations too high and when you get hear bea 
disappointed in the crop adderson wass gone two weakes 
toa day nuthing more at the present time. 

When this you sea remember mea though many miles 
between us bea 


The final touch of sentiment in the preceding letter at- 
tracts our attention. Aside from the uncouth method of 
expression the form used by the overseer was what in 
ordinary cases would be considered presumption. At this 
time Polk had been long a member of congress and for 
two years he had been governor of Tennessee. He was 
fairly entitled to be ranked with the most respected men in 
the country. Yet here was an illiterate man, his overseer, 
closing a letter which should have been a respectful report 
of affairs on the plantation by putting in a sentimental fling 
as he might have done in writing to a silly girl in his own 
rank of life. 

It is to be explained only by recalling the utter lack 
of a sense of inferiority in the poorer whites of the Old 
South. These people had very little class consciousness. 
They were not afflicted with an inferiority complex. Each 
of them, if not crushed by some specific personal weakness, 
was confident that he was as good as the best, and he was 
not above showing his belief. He did not recognize that the 
lack of property or education implied the lack of respect 
by other people. To Dismukes the little sally was not pre- 
sumption. He felt as good in his way as Polk in his way. 
His next letter, dated October 12, 1842, returns to planta- 
tion routine and indicates that he was still on the best terms 
with his employer. It runs as follows: 


[ 169 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


DEar sIR: 

I will write you a fiew lines to inform you sumthing 
about the bisness of the plantation adderson is still sick 
all the rest of the negrows are well at the present time you 
must cum down shortly though I am inhopes that you are 
own your way to the plantation I [am] still youseing evry 
effort to save the crop though unless I have more help I 
cannot get through it untill march unless evry day is good: 
I have 26 bages pack and 20 or 30 thousand pickout not 
gin I had to have the gin work on which have through mea 
back in jining . I have geathered my newground corn evry 
thing is goen on well at the present 


On December 25, 1842, Dismukes made the following 
report of affairs on the plantation: 


Dear sIR: 

I write you a fiew lines today wea are all well but 
ould charles nuthing much to mader with him wea are 
dooing all wea can in saveing of the cotten but impossible 
to save all I am now goen on in saveing the cleanest and 
the best for it is impossible for us to save it as it should bea 
wea have pick and pach 27 bages besides some 4 or 5 bages 
in the pick room I received your letter on the 24 of this 
you said that you did not wish mea to buy a horse I think 
it alittle hard after I have made you shuch a crop and now 
cant bea allowed to have a horse that is fitten to ride in 
company I am inhopes that when you write again that you 
will write to mea to get one that will soot mea you said in 
your letter that you did not wish to assist in bying a bar! of 
licker and that you did not want eny on the plase I am 
inhopese that you did not mean that I ware not to keep it 
for my self at my own expense. 


[ 170 ] 


J A IER. 


, I, Sh Soren 
ate Bre «le £, ele Lu eee Cte eh ania a: vs a 
ae anieK 40 nce gler 10<<ck Keer :. 


a Whe eatlhin, Cet csrpesclla << saeees | 
aC 


| 


- 


Pre Fee ees oe age AHaneeeney ha 
Te ae ee ae = FS Sig EPS pes? estos 
for?” Meee hutvin etl wy) 2 ahandcfad Midas 
ce Fee poeta arc p~mete 27 Cage 
4azetles serrmpe 4 Or 3- Sug Se ay eee 
Perret ausCe cat sk ones atic o3e LK 2H 
ee gee meet ft ye eC tgs e+ hag hk 
ieee ta vA a konse ff Pa, gee FI sl RA 
A y faere snc er Akacedi. et hay het 
gen cat Oe gtd co hatte ce lor He, 

Lk 23 Kime Pe Spee. ert cose Yineteg y arre 
Ba yore wee ves Ze pie ore 
ACEAC 40-< ZO ey ee ee gece Amest 234 cS aint 
eee Kae sce 16s et 1 hiet- 78 mbte 
- ae Cying 2 ford Aater ansethat 
Seca aga Atad <u sich ¢ Peue Cfe <n 
ate <2 Kapete Chalk beta -efesl seaz” 


ey Ae ger D9) pear n 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismuhes 


January 14, 1843, Dismukes wrote Polk the following 
characteristic letter relating to the petty problems that en- 
gaged the attention of an overseer. It runs as follows: 


DEar sIR: 
wea are all well except henry hea has bin complain- 
ing for one or too dais but hea is getting better fast I have 
kild pork that is I have kild 34 four of the hoges that made 
five thousand 400.78* P and have 29 more to kill I shall 
make pork aplenty for the plase this year for the first time 
that it ever has bin dun of the plase and have avery puty 
stock of hoges for another year for the plase I have put up 
only 8 bails of cotten since I wrote to you I wass baleing 
the other day and boath of the topes” [?] commense split- 
ing so that | had to stop bailing though I think that I can 
clampit so it will doo to pack this crop and many longer 
I have but one boult of baging at the present time and mr 
bobit is not at home nor I have noe money to get enny more 
so what shall | doo you say I must not buy enny thing on 
a credit write to mea what to doo 
I have all above the cross fence next to sulliventcs field 
to pick now I have now at this time about 14 or 16 bages 
to put up and but this one boult of 60 yardes and I think 
thare is betwean 30 and 40 bages now to pick wea have 
had a bad time hear for about two weakes for picking. 


[P.S.] 

I wan a jinban [gin band] very bad indeed for I cant get 
long well with this your cotten had not gone the other day 
from troy this is the weightes of the last bages 469: 535: 
514: 462: 566: 515: 481: 510. 

1 Probably 5,478 pounds. 


2 Probably “tops,” referring to the parts that came down on the cotton at the end 
of the screw and pressed the side of the bale. 


[171 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


The following letter is the last we have from Dismukes. 
He remained two years longer on Polk’s plantation, but 
the later reports he made on affairs there have not been pre- 
served. In fact, there is evidence that he was not always a 
faithful reporter, for we have information in letters written 
by other men that Polk complained that he did not hear 
from his overseer for long periods. This final letter in the 
series was written January 26, 1843, and runs as follows: 


Dear sir: 

I will write to you again wea are all well at the 
present time wea are still trying to get out our cotten and 
I think we shall get it out now in about 12 or 14 dais I 
shall not write to you enny more untill dun picking wea 
have had a puty spell hear now for the last eight or ten dais 
for picking of cotten and I have had all handes at it the 
giner and all so that I have dun noe gining for that length 
of time I think I shall save betwene 170 and 180 bails that 
is 400 P to a bail you wrote to mea to pick the second 
years ground to itself and to let you noe how much it made 
to the acre but while I was gone to tennessee the handes 
pick a part of it and it is so that I cant comply with your 
request: I have made the last killing of pourk I kill this 
time 3451 P of pourk and I wrote you word how much I 
kill before I have three barrels of lard and too of soap I am 
in hopes that this will please you and Mistress Polk 


The following letter from Samuel P. Caldwell to James 
K. Polk, dated at Memphis, Tennessee, May 21, 1844, shows 
what trouble a planter was put to at that time to get a cot- 
ton gin that he considered reliable. It runs: 


Dear sir: 
I received your letter a few days since in which you 


[172 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


requested me to order a cotton gin at Gen. Farrington’s 
Shop. I had a conversation with Farrington himself upon 
the subject. He is anxious to make it for you, but will not 
deliver it in Mississippi, nor will he credit you until you 
can try the gin. But he will warrant it to do well. He says 
he has a rule from which he never departs, and that rule is 
never to deliver a gin until it is paid for unless he receives 
interest while it is being tried at the rate of the interest 
which he exacts when he credits for work. I told him to 
make the gin or at least commence it, and that I would 
inform you of his terms immediately, requesting you to 
make a prompt reply, whether or not you would agree to 
thesame. If you will not take it, write so much and it will 
not make any difference with him, as he can sell the gin as 
his own, absolving you from all and every obligation. His 
price is the same as it was when he talked with you. He 
will make you a first rate gin by the time specified in your 
letter. You had better address your reply to (Gen. Jacob 
F. Farrington, Memphis, Tenn.), as it is not probable that 
I will be here by the time your reply arrives, as I expect to 
visit the northwestern cities this summer, and may possibly 
fimemat Columbia asl goon. .........--. 


In the interval during which no letters are extant from 
Dismukes we have one interesting bit of information. It is 
the bare statement that in 1843 Dismukes bought a slave 
belonging to General Pillow, perhaps a runaway, and had 
to send him to Tennessee to escape a lawsuit. Of his final 
departure from the plantation and the source of dissatis- 
faction with him we have only the following extract to 
throw light on the subject. It is taken from a letter from 
Samuel P. Walker to Polk, dated January 3, 1845, and is 
as follows: 

Bvee 


The Plantation Overseer 


I staid all night at your plantation with Col. Campbell 
on the night of the 27th Dec. Your people are all well. 
Dismukes has shipped 101 Bales cotton and thinks he will 
make in all 130 to 140 Bales. I presume that James Brown 
has written you that he has employed James Mairs for you 
for the next year. He reached the plantation on the day I 
left there. Brown recommends him very highly. I staid 
with Col. Fly as 1 came up. he knows him well and agrees 
with Brown in the opinion, that there is no better planter 
in Miss., that he is honest very economical and industrious. 
It was very well that Brown had made the engagement as 
Campbell would have dismissed Dismukes anyhow. he has 
to much company about him. I advanced Col. Campbell 
$150 to pay some accounts in the neighbourhood which will 
be charged to your account at New Orleans......... 


The departure of Dismukes fell in the same year that 
Polk became president of the United States. For the four 
years previous to it he had lived in Columbia a busy lawyer 
and a much sought after politician. So many things had 
crowded into his life that he naturally lost much of his in- 
terest in the plantation, which now and again interrupted 
his course of living by making it necessary to take a long 
and tedious journey into Mississippi. The result was a 
growing desire to be rid of the whole enterprise. Mrs. Polk, 
however, did not share this feeling. She looked upon the 
Mississippi plantation as a stay during old age, as in fact 
it became for her throughout a long period of widowhood. 

Polk was apt to think most of selling when he found it 
necessary to visit the place. It was a tedious journey and he 
was not the kind of man who loved to ride in a buggy. It 
was in that kind of a vehicle that he started in October, 
1843, to drive to the plantation. For three days before he 


[ 174 ] 


The Overseership of Isaac H. Dismukes 


reached Bolivar, which was 125 miles from Columbia, he 
drove through the rain, and the roads became so muddy 
that he was tempted to complete his journey on horseback, 
which would be 75 miles more. Naturally an ex-governor 
who had to travel under these conditions was inclined to 
think that it was not worth while to conduct a farm at such 
a long distance from home. He went on, however, for he 
had with him Mr. James Armstrong to whom he hoped to 
sell the plantation, and he expected to be joined after his 
arrival by General Gideon Pillow, whom he also regarded 
as a prospective purchaser. Writing to his wife from Boll- 
var, October 26, 1843, he said: 


Mr. James Armstrong will go with me directly to my 
place, and if he is pleased with it, I think it probable | will 
sell him half my land. Genl. Pillow goes from here to Mem- 
phis, and will be at my plantation on next Saturday or 
Sunday week unless he buys some [?]. If I do not trade 
with Armstrong, I think Pillow is strongly inclined to buy 
it. 

Mr. Armstrong requests that you will let Wm. Cooper 
know where he is etc. and request him to send word to his 
wife. Armstrong seemes to have special reasons for being 
very affectionate towards his young-wife just now. You 
will of course say nothing about the probabilities of my 
selling him half my land. I think the chances are that I will 
sellto him. This I know will suit your views better than to 
sell the whole plantation. 


These hopes were not realized, for what reason I have 
not been able to discover. Polk retained possession of the 
plantation and Mrs. Polk had the satisfaction of knowing 
that the future was arranged as she wished. 


[ 175 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER Xa 
The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


ISMUKES was succeeded by John A. 
Mairs, who was obtained for Polk by 
4 James Brown. He reached the planta- 
tion December 28, 1844, and was still 
there when our series of overseer letters 
: ended in 1858. So far as his letters are 
evidence he was not superior to his predecessors. Probably 
he was the most illiterate of the group and there is no rea- 
son to think that he worked harder or had more ability in 
managing the slaves. His long and uninterrupted stay on 
the plantation may have been due to a certain abatement 
of Polk’s interest in the venture. Mairs took charge as Polk 
was about to become president. He was left mostly to his 
own devices for the next four years, and on June 15, 1849, 
Polk died, within a few months after retiring to private life. 
Mairs then found Mrs. Polk his employer. She was a con- 
siderate mistress, and she looked to him for the ability that — 
was necessary to carry on the place. Mairs’s wages were 
$500 a year at first and later were raised to $550. 
Probably another reason for Polk’s less vigilant direction 
of the overseer was the increased easiness of his financial 
affairs. Memoranda preserved in his correspondence in- 
dicate that he was financially embarrassed when he became 
president. During the first year of his term of office he 
paid off old debts, mostly notes, to the amount of $17,747.26, 
from which we should probably take $5000 in cash which 


fone 


B 


oA 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


he carried with him for initial expenses when he went to 
Washington to be inaugurated as president. The second 
year in office he began to invest money and when he retired 
from the presidency he had placed aside $25,498.49. In this 
amount was $12,615.80 paid for the Grundy place in Nash- 
ville on which he built a fine new house at a cost of $6044.44. 
It is impossible to say how much of the money involved in 
these transactions came from his salary as president and 
how much came from other sources, as, for example, the 
sale of his home in Columbia and the returns from the Mis- 
sissippi plantation. Such information as is available goes 
to show that these returns were rarely more than $3750 a 
year, and in some years as low as $3250, when the price of 
cotton fell, and from them was to be taken the expenses of 
the plantation: as clothing bought for the slaves, bagging 
and ties for putting up the cotton. 

During this period Polk’s agent in Tennessee was Robert 
Campbell, Jr., of Columbia. Memoranda preserved in his 
correspondence show that he bought while president several 
slaves through Campbell as agent. One transaction was the 
purchase in 1846 from General Pillow, of Columbia, of the 
obstreperous Harbert, his wife and child of nine years for 
the sum of $1436. In 1847 he bought a negro “boy,” Jo. by 
name, for $650, a negro girl for $525, and from his mother 
a negro man named Garrison for $500. In 1846 he placed 
$3000 in the hands of Robert Campbell “to buy property 
for me,” but the kind of property is not indicated. 

During this period we have no letters from his overseer 
in Mississippi to show what was going on at the plantation. 
It is possible that Mairs, who continued to be overseer, made 
his reports to Campbell who did not preserve the letters. 


[177 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Through this period we know he received his wages of $500 
a year, but Mrs. Polk paid him $550 a year. 

It is not until 1849, after the death of Polk, that we come 
again to the regular letters from the overseer, and now they 
are addressed to Mrs. Polk. They are relatively brief, for 
Mairs was a man of few words, but they are quite regular 
until 1858. The first we have is dated August 19, 1849, 
two months after Polk’s death, and is as follows: 

I receved a leter a fewdays Ago writen by youre Request 
of Col Robert CampBell of Columbia Tennessee 

We have some sickness at this time But not dangerus 
the crop is doing well at this time we have had a fine spell 
of wether on the coten crop the corn crop is good if we 
have nomis for tune we will Ras a plenty of hogs to slough- 
ter for the Plantation we are nough clearing more Land 
making the servants winter clothing Giting Redy for the 
coten so soon as it opens the Stock all Lucks as well as 
could be exspected the Death of my employure was veery 
unexpected and distresing to me the negrose seammed to 
be much troubled A Bout there Master But sense they 
have heard the beLong to you the are somthing beter 
Reconciled the negros have behaved veery will this year. 
I have nothing more of intrust 

Your most obedient 


September 20, 1849, Mairs wrote as follows: 


Marm 
Receved youre Leter of the 4th of Sept We have had 
some sickness chills and Feavors But the Casis has bin mild 
the are all on the mend won or Tow in the hous but clear of 
feavor the crop of corn is good But sense I rought you Last 
the coten will not be as good as I thorte as the Bold worm 


[178 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


has bin oppirating against it But I still think it is a far 
crop with the naberhood I think we will make the winter 
clothing for the negros in time we are getherring the coten 
and gining it you have not givin me enny dy Recttions 
About your coten the President Dy Recttions was this mark 
the coten in his name way it send me the numbers and wats 
take the coten to Troy put it in the ceere of Thomas W. 
Beal [?] I got Mr. J. T. Leigh To ship it to Pickett Perkins 
and Co New Orleans You will please give me some Dy 
Recttions about the coten or eny thing els you want don 
We have Packed 22 Bals of coten I will sen you the wats 
and numbers no name have bin put on it yet the calcula- 
tion with me is to stay heare another year 


Respectfully 


Mair’s next letter was dated October 29, 1849. It in- 
formed his employer that “youre servents are all well ex- 
cept wone or two have chills And feaver,” that they were 
then making the winter clothing for the negroes, that they 
made plenty of corn and pork “for the youse of the planta- 
tion,” and that he had baled seventy-two bales of cotton. 
December 12, 1849, he sent a more explicit report. It runs 
as follows: 


I nough right you a few lines concerning your plantation 
and people your people are all well at present we have not 
yet finished the Crop But nearly don it we have packed 
112 Bags and hald them to the river I think 10 or 12 more 
bags will be [all] we shall make we have 6 of them out in 
the gin house we are don gethering corn we shall make a 
plenty for the youse of the plantation we have had a cold 
spell of wether And have sloughtered som of the Pork hogs 
7000 lbs pounds or a part of them I think we will Rase a 


[ 179 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


plenty for the youse of the place The stock all Lucks as 
well as could be exspected the negros are all behaving very 
well so far we are in cold wether clearing making cloath 
for summer clothing and finish picking out coten I am 
man|[ag ing to the best of my nolage and to the intrust of 
the plantation 

Yours veary respectfuly 


Although Mairs’s sentences are short and to the point 
they convey much meaning. Into one brief letter he com- 
pressed a large amount of information. The following let- 
ter dated January 12, 1850, not only reveals the size of 
the crop, but gives us a very interesting glimpse of the sup- 
plies needed for the plantation in a year’s operations. It 
runs as follows: 


Maru 
Receved your leter Dayted 11th of December I had 
Riten to you I am in hopes you got it soon after yours was 
writen [| would of writen this leter suner but I was wating 
To finish getherring the crop your people are all well ex- 
cept Joe and pompy the have bin sick but are nough mend- 
ing thare wore 112 Bags of your coten shiped and I sur- 
pose got to new orleans the 10 or 15 of December I dough 
not nough the date thare is 13 bags mor will be shiped in a 
day or two as the bote is nough oup we only made 125 
Bags saved spining coten we have had some cold wither 
fine tim to save the pork we are nough clearing Land or 
making clothing 
I was thinking I had beter say somthing aboute the Rope 
and bagin Say 1000 yds of Bagin goo lbs of Rope 20 lbs of 
Twine the forse and stock has incresed 12 Sacks of salte 
3 dosens pair of negros shoes 1 Dos No 12 and 1 Dos 13 


[ 180 | 


The Overseership of John A. Maire 


and 1 Dos of smaler sise As for hats and Blankets the had 
Las Winter you nough Best I leave it youre self I was 
thinking the would be cheaper in new orleons 

Yours Respectfully 


February 1, 1850, Mairs wrote as follows: 


Maru 

I nough write you a Few lines concerning your plan- 
tation and people the are will except some chills an fefor 
among them I am sorry that I have to inform you that Mr. 
J. T. Leigh dyied the 20 of last month I think he was a fine 
clever man he has bin verry kind in advising with me in 
enny thing that I Asked him to the intrust of the plantation 
I am trying to manage to the best of my Nolage We are 
clearing land preparing to plant as soon as the season will 
Admit making the clothing for the Negrose the Stock all 
Lucks well as could be exspected I have writen to you 
sense I have receved word frome your Maj Daniel Graham 
But we have received no male for 12 or 15 days on the ect- 
count of high water 

Yours vary respectfully 


Mrs. Polk was a woman of unusual business capacity. 
Her close oversight of the plantation is worthy of com- 
mendation. Early in the year she decided to visit it herself 
and so informed the overseer. His reply to this announce- 
ment is contained in the following letter dated March 15, 
1850: 


Marm 
I have Receved your Leter Dayted feb the 22 the 
Negros is behaving varry well the Negros was muched 
pleased to hear that you was coming doune to sey them 


[ 181 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


the are all well at this tim though wone of them has dyed 
sense I rought to you Last By the name of Carline Davis 
won that Mr. Samuel P Walker sent hear Las april frome 
Memphis this negro was Diseased she come her sick and 
has bin complayming of and on ever sens she has bin heare 
she dyed 21th of febuary Bilous pneumonia 

we ar going on with the plantation Bisness as well as as 
wecan planting corn preparing to plant coten making the 
sume[r] clothing for the Negros the Stock all Luck as 
well as could be exspected the artickles you ordered up 
from New orleans have not arrived yet so soon as the 
doug I will Let you nough 

Varry Respectfully yours 


Mairs’s letters throughout this year are devoted to plan- 
tation routine. They present in terse language a picture of 
the life that was lived on the plantation. And it will be 
strange if the reader does not find a source of continuous 
amusement in discovering the meaning of many of his cu- 
riously misspelt words. In the letters which follow for the 
year 1850 I shall leave the reader without suggestions on 
my part, believing that he needs no aid of that kind to get 
the meaning. The first of these letters is dated April 12, 
1850, and it runs as follows: 


Maro 

I nough right you a few Lins youre people are all 
well except colds the wether continues cold the spring is 
late we are planting coten And planting corn instead 1 
had some 25 acres to plant over it was planted veary early 
making clothing for the negros clothes the Stock all Lucks 
as well as could be exspected All youre artickls has ar- 
rived you ordered from Neworleans 10 pieces Baging about 


[ 182 ] 


a 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


103 yds in each peace or about [?] 8 coils of Rope 125 !bs 
or the rise in each coil 1 Bale Twine 2 Boxes of mer- 
chandis 1 Box have 4 dosin hats, 1 Box Box 3 dzin par 
shoes 10 Sacks of coars salt 2 sacks of fine salt 

Vary Respectfully yours 


May 6, 1850, Mairs wrote as follows: 
Maro 


I nough right you a few lins concerning youre plan- 
tation and people your servents are all well except won or 
two litle complayning wone of the Gurls mannels wife 
misscaired a few days ago But is as well as could be ex- 
spected by the name of Jane I got a leter today from 
Maj. Graham dayted the 17th of April in it and order to 
pickett perkins & Co in favor of me for $560 I have not 
yet receved the Last artickls you ordered up from Newor- 
leans. 

this has bin the coldest and Backwardest spring that has 
bin sense | have bin on the farm and we have had rans in 
floods Idount think I evr sough the like at this time of 
the year we have got a good stand of coten on all But 40 
acres we hade to plant over so cold and wet it dying and 
we trying to work it the corn is a good stand but Io or 12 
acres I had to plant over 

We are trying to get on for the Best the Negros all seem 
to behave vary well the stock all Lucks as well as could be 
exspected Varry Respectfully yours 


June 7, 1850, Mairs wrote the following letter to Mrs. 
Polk: 
Marm 
I nough write you a few lins concerning your plan- 
tation an people youre people are all well at present ma- 


[ 183 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


riar has bin sick But has got about Daphney has a child 
Born the 15 of May she cals him Silas Mac Gomry [ Mont- 
gomery | the spring has bin vary unfavorable on the farm- 
ers we have sufferred from the fluds of rane and nough for 
the want of some we turned about and Replanted coten 
and got a tolerable stand About the 18 of May we hade a 
little rane and it turned of cold an the coten has bin dying 
ever sens we have bin trying to save a stand but I cant save 
a good stand and I dount beleave thare are a good stand of 
coten in this naburhood and apon the whole the prospect is 
unfavorable I am trying to manage for the best the Ne- 
gros behave vary well so fare and the Stock all Lucks as 
well as cold be exspected 
Yours vary respectfully 


the las artickles you had shiped to troy from Neworleans 
has arrived at troy I have got the bad toes [ ?]* and will in 
a few days goan get them all I surpose thare are all safe I 
will wright you in the next leter. 


Vary Respectfully yours 


July 6, 1850, the overseer wrote the following letter to 
Mrs. Polk: 


Maro 
I have a few days ago Receved a leter from you day- 
ted the 19 of June stating that you had not Receved a leter 
from me sens the 6 of May I have writen to you the 7 of 
June 
we have had some sickness but the casis has bin mild 
childs and fevurs We have won or two a little poly at this 
tim the crop of corn is good at this tim and if it should be 


1 Probably refers to the “toe itch,” due to excessive rain. 


[ 184 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


seasonable from this tim out we will make a fine crop of 
corn we have had good seasons and the coten crop has im- 
proved vary much and if it shold be seasonable for coten 
from this tim out I am in hopes we will make a good crop 
yet the stand is not first rate but as good as enny I have 
seen in the setlement the stock all Lucks as well as cold be 
exspected I have receved the Las artickles you ordered 
from New orleons say 9 par of Blanket of Large sise 5 par 
of smaller sise 18 hand hoes the weovous sicle hasnt come 
to hand. Daphny has a child bourne the 15 the of May she 
caulds him by the name of Silas Mac gumry. I shall be able 
to spare some of the hands out of the crop. I have stables 
to build a good deal of diching to doug and making clothing 
for the Negros I have the coten press to Repar I am in 
hopes a part of it will doug the gin stand ought to have 
some Reparing too Nothing more worth atention only 
Remain marm yours vary Respectfully 


The next report is dated August 10, 1850, and runs as 
follows : 


Maro 
I nough write you a few lins concerning your planta- 
tion and people your servents are all in seasonable helth 
at present the helth of this nabohood has bin good so far 
this season we are needing Rain at this tim vary much 
Late Corn is sufferring urly corn is good fored planting the 
coten crop the coten is small But seoms to be full of forms 
Blossoms and Bols it begins to need Rain evy increased 
hir family the first of August had 2 children she cauld 
them by the name of urvin and Mary An 
the last Leter I receved from you was dated the 18 of 
June Your servents all behave vary well except Joe has 


[ 185 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


left me wonst this year But Return home in a few days of 
his on actcord we have put up a coten press making the 
negro clothing puling foder cleaning the ditches out the 
stock all Lucks as well as comon 

Yours most obedient servent 


On September 8, 1850, Mairs reported as follows: 


Maru 

I have receved your Leter of the 18 of August I 
nough write you a few lins to inform you that your servents 
are allin Reasonable helth at present we are nough pick- 
ing out coten the coten crop is a far crop for this year I 
think if the fall is favorable from this tim out we will mak 
as much as we made Last year and more | think we will 
make a plenty of corn to surply the plantation Your serv- 
ents are all behaving well at this time the stock all Lucks 
as well as could be exspected Am in hops we will Ras 
enough Pork for the youse of the place I am a man[ag]ing 
to the best of my knowledge 

Yours very Respectfully 


October 8, 1850, Mairs reported as follows: 


Marm 

I nough write you a few lins concerning your plan- 
tation and people Your servents is in reasonable helth at 
this time Betsia Lost hir youngest child by the name of 
Fanny we are nough gethering coten the wether has bin 
fine sense we commensed_ we have packed 39 Bags I think 
if the fall should continue favorable we will make over [| ?] 
180 Bales waing 400 lbs each or more. I am in hopes you 
will get a good price for it I think we will make a plenty 
of corn to surply the place I think we will slaughter a 


[ 186 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


plenty of Pork for the yduse of the place the stock all 
Lucks as well as could be exspected we are nough trying 
to Gether the crops the hands all work find and behave 
them selves 

Yours most obedent servent. 


The next letter in the series is dated November 6, 1850. 
It contains definite information touching the habit of al- 
lowing the slaves to cultivate bits of land for themselves, 
working these allotments on holidays or at times allowed 
them by the master. In this particular case the yield of 
8400 pounds was large for slaves’ cotton. The usual thing 
was to count ginned cotton as one-third in weight of the 
seed cotton so that in this case the slaves on this plantation 
would have raised and disposed of 2800 pounds of ginned 
cotton, or seven bales at 400 pounds to the bale." The let- 
ter runs as follows: 


Mar 

I have just Receved a leter from Maj Daniel Graham 
stating that he exspected To visit your farm some time in 
december Next. He wishes to nough whether or not I have 
muls anof to surply the plantation I purchased a mule last 
May Give $95 for him we have a plenty of mules at pres- 
ent But 3 or 4 of them are giting old And Jaded and 
mules are seling high at present and I nough leave it with 
you to say whether or not it wold be beter to part with the 
old wons and by more or not I will wate for and ancer 
from you Youre servents crope of coten in 1849 was about 
8400 lbs of sead coten youre people are all well at present 
Evy has Lost Both of hir youngest children We are nough 
gethering the crop of coten have packed 67 Bags and have 


1 This year Mrs. Polk’s cotton sold at 7 and 74 cents a pound for the poor cotton 
and at 1034 and 11%% for the good cotton. 


[ 187 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


90 or 95 Bags out I think we will make a 175 Bals waing 
400 lbseach We have getherred a part of the corn I think 
we will make a plenty for the youse of the plase we have 75 
head of hogs to slaughter I think will surply the plase 
plentyfully 

To Mrs. Sarah Polk, Marm, I dough not Recol Lect be- 
ing imploy by you or eny agent of yours for another yeare 
though the way Mager Graham Rits he exspects me to re- 
mane as I surpose I would of writen to you before nough 
but exspected Maj Graham heare by this time I am wiling 
to Remane in youre bisness if itis satisfactory But I think 
the present prises of coten will justyfy me to cal on you to 
Ras my salary Allso I have receved 6 adishalnal hands 
and the Blacksmith sens my wages was raseed. I wold of 
made this request last year but things seam to be in confu- 
sion I will be satisfide with youre oppinion or Maj Graham 

Yours most obedient. 


January 13, 1851, Mairs wrote to Mrs. Polk as follows: 


Mar 

i nough rite you, a few lins_ 1 would of writen to you 
before nough Buti thort youre coten would of bin shiped 
before nough but thare has not bin a boate up sens i got 
orders to have it shipped indead thare has not bin but won 
bote oup this season we have 125 bags at the River we 
have finished picking out of the field but have not finished 
Gining of it yet 1 think we will have 10 more bags only* I 
will write to you so soon as it is shiped to new orleans Your 
servents are all well at present some of them have behaved 
vary badly Some of them Are in the woods nough the 


1 On the next page Mairs set down the numbers and weights of 132 bales of coten 
with weights of 7 bales wanting. 


[ 188 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


stock all lucks as well as could be exspected we are making 
the somer clothing and Preparing for a crop 
Yours most obedient 


Mairm, if you can make it convenient i would like to 
have the mony due me as I| have made arrangement to 
youse it. 


Writing to Mrs. Polk February 10, 1851, Mairs said: 


Marm 

I have receved yore Lete of the 27 of January I 
nough write you a few lins youre people are all well Gil- 
Bert has ran Away left 5th of January I have not hurd 
any thing frome him sens he left thare has bin shipped To- 
day 75 Bags of youre coten to N orleans And I will try and 
git the balans as soon asican this is the 3 bote we make 
136 Bags of coten we are nough preparing for a crop the 
negros are nough working vary well the stock all lucks as 
well as could be exspected. List of articles for the planta- 
tion of Mrs Sarah Polk 

I 1100 yards Coten bagginge 
1000 lbs baling rope 
12 lbs Twine 
12 Sacks salte 
100 lbs of six penny Nals 
3 Dosin par of negroshoes of which 1 Dosin No. 12, 
1 Dosin No to, 1 Dosin No. 7 
Some hats for the Negros 
the blankets you ordered has not yet come to hand 
Yours respectfuly 


An kw hd 


Mairs’s letter of March 5, 1851, shows that he still had 
trouble with the slaves through their running away, and 


[ 189 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


that he had further trouble with the transportation com- 
panies in shipping the cotton. His letter is as follows: 


Maru 

i nough write you a few lins concerning your planta- 
tion and servents youre people are all well at present though 
Gilbert left heare 5th of January last and i have not hurd 
from him sense he left 1 expect he is up in haywood county 
tennessee Joe is all so ranaway the balanse is at present 
working vary well i have receved 6 par m naugh [?] 
Blankets you ordered oup frome New orleans thare has bin 
shiped 45 bags of youre coten to new orleans on the steam- 
er Monroe 75 bags before making in all 120 bags we have 
had a rise in the yellowbusha river and thare ware 17 bags 
of your coten got wet I went to sey about it and found it 
vary wet and finding the had a Great many more had got 
wet and thinking it doubtful wheth[er] the would be able to 
pay damagees if the ware willing imade a bargain with 
them that imite take the coten home and dough as i thort 
for the best it would not release them the would be as 
legally bound as the ware before before witnessis 1 have 
picked the white coten of that dyed not git wet and packed 
it 9 bags of it the balanse is not all dry it is a little stained 
ithink tha ought to pay damages on it counting in the trou- 
ble allso. isurpose you will not nough untwel youre mer- 
chant sels it Some say the can be made to pay and some 
say not the river has bin higher and tha has shiped coten 
that has bin hald to them sens you give orders to ship yours 
while i was in troy isough a bag of mote coten we hade a 
rany day and igined the mots over and made a bag No 137, 

waing 420 lbs 
Wone of youre servents by the name of sally has in- 
creased her family and calds her child Burrel we are pre- 


[ 190 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


paring to try and make acrop _ishel indever to dough to 
the best of my noledge the Stock all looks as well as could 
be exspected ihave setled the taxes and all clams aganse 
the plantation that inough of 

Veery respeckfully yours 


Major Daniel Graham and Major John W. Childress, 
the latter being her brother, seem now to have been acting 
as Mrs. Polk’s advisers in business matters. Nevertheless 
she herself kept a keen eye on plantation affairs and it was 
to her that the overseer made his monthly reports. On 
March 18, 1851, he sent her the following letter: 


Mairm 
receved A Leter from Mag Daniel Graham dated 6th 

of March Receved 16th I nough comply withe his Request 
Marme youre servents are all well at present Joe and Gil- 
bert is still out of plase 

We are giting on vary well with the farm and will finish 
planting corn in a few days making the summer clothing 
preparing the land for coten the stock all lucks as well As 
Could be exspected I have dryed the wet coten that I men- 
tioned to you in my last leter 17 bags thare was 9 bags we 
picked of the wet that never got wet the 8 bags was staned 
some it is all dry and packed and we are nough haling it 
to Troy and i think it will be shiped to Neworleons shortly 
I attended to it to the best of my judgment 

The 2 day after I got Maj John W Childress Leter to ship 
your Coten I got Doctor Towns to rite to Cols and Mc 
swine to ship your coten on the first steambote that he 
thort a safe bote move it [?] in short not put it on a ceal 
bote [keel boat] for the Ginerly reshiped and some tims it 
is exsposed to the wether it certainly have bin an unusual 


[ 191 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


season about giting coten of as the river in the urly part 
of the season was vary Lough I receved your leter stating 
you regreeted to hear your coten was not shiped I hurd 
that thar would be a bote oup in a few days I went to troy 
and asked cols to ship youre coten he told me he would 
dough the best he could he would ship a part insisted he 
would ship it all he said he had to Go by the first that Give 
orders to ship he shiped 75 bags on that steambote Col 
Monroe he has I lurn shiped 1 small Lot on the same bote 
that was hald in sense you give orders thare 1 think he was 
ronge i surpose thar ware over 100 bags got wet in troy the 
sayed the ware not agoing to pay damageis the most all 
shiped it of wet to Neworleons I thort it best to hal yours 
home and pick as to have it picked at Neworleons or sell it 
at a [?] an coten on the decline at that time I think he 
ought to pay some damages it was a right smart troble 
haling it home and picking it over i am in hops you will 
not Lose much on the prise of it 1 will nough give you the 
nombers thou thar was won or two was hed so that I dough 
not nough the are the same nombur the ware before 136 
bags coten, 1 bag of mots, 120 shiped* 
Vary respectfuly Yours 


The progress of plantation affairs during the spring of 
1851 is described in a letter from Mairs to Mrs. Polk, dated 
April 16, 1851, and it runs as follows: 


Maro 
I have receve your Leter dated 3th of this month 
Youre people are all well And behaving well at this tim 
Gilbert is still out of plase I got him home and he Ran of 


1 Here follows the several numbers of the repacked bales. The fate of this hand 
dried cotton may be seen below, p. 231. 


[ 192 ] 


The Overseership of John A Mains 


the next day Pompy Left about 4 weaks ago and I have 
not hired a word from him sens he left he ranaway from 
himself Barbra has increased hir family has a daughter 
and calls it By the name of Marthy Born 20th of March 
last 

We are giting on vary well farming I have prepared 
the Land well this season we have a find stand of corn all 
to about 8 acres yet not planted subject to over flough 
planting coton sloly nerly done 

I have received the supplise you had sent oup for your 
plantation and examined it thare ware 1 bolt of bag- 
ing a little wet but not ingered I dryed it To 11 bolts of 
baging 100 y. each bolte To 10 coils of rope 119, 114, 122, 
110, 116, 115, 126, 117, 118, 120 the Rope waing in all 1177 
Ibs. 1 Keg of nals wa 100 lbs_ 12 sacks of salte 1 Box of 
shoes and hats 2 dosin wol hats 3 dosin par shoes 1 Bale 
of Twine 12 hanks of it the blankets I have Riten to you 
before 1 Bal Blankets 6 par 

Youre coten has bin all shiped from Troy Febuary roth 
shiped 75 bals shiped March 5th 45 Bals_ shiped March 
18th 8 Bals shiped March 25th 9 Bals, makin in all 136 
Bags coten 1 Bag of mots in all 137 if I understand you 
thar ware 20 bals of youre coten that was shiped first in- 
jured and staned that it commanded but a vary low prise 
which I am vary sorry to heare The last picking was in the 
first lot shiped I surpose it being most convenient to git to 
when shiped I thort I had taken as much pains with the 
crop as i ever had taken with a crop and the coten was 
handled nise it is true thar ware more yellow coten this last 
yeare than usual oing to the spring we had to replante a 
good deal to git a stand I picked it clere out of the pach I 
mix some white with the last picking to try to make it 


[ 193 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


sample well it dyed not mature well if ingerd otherwise it 

got so After it left your plantation I halded it to the river in 

good wether and all the Recets say Receved it in good order 

I would like to nough hough your coten sample all round 

and when sold what sort of prise it brings I will indever to 

manag to youre intrust as it has bin all ways my wish 
Yours most obedente 


Mairs seems to have been little more successful than his 
predecessors in keeping the slaves on the plantation. Gil- 
bert was an habitual runaway and Harbert was often in the 
woods, while others followed their example. In this spring 
Mairs had 340 acres in cotton, 180 in corn, 40 in oats, and 
there were six that were not in cultivation, a total of 566 
acres of cleared land. In 1839 the total cleared acreage 
was 271 and in 1842 it was 374, which shows that the plan- 
tation was being made more effective steadily. Another 
thing that appears from the short letters of the overseer at 
this time is the fatality among the children of the slaves. 
May 18, 1851, he reported that “Daphny has lost hire child 
by the name of Silas” and July 8, 1851, he wrote “barbara 
has lost hir child by the name of Eliza an was not a helthy 
child from the first.” 

Through the summer of this year Mairs’s letters are very 
brief and concise. The following, dated July 25, 1851, is a 
fair sample: 


Mair 
I nough write you a few lins concerning youre Plan- 
tation and bisness your servents are all well at present the 
wether has bin vary dry sens | rought to you last and the 
corn crop has suffered for the want of rane but I think we 
shal make anof for to surply the plas the Coten crop is yet 


[ 194 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


vary good and if the season is favorable from this out we 
will make a fine crop of coten 

Your servents ar behaving vary well at present we ar git- 
ing on vary well bilding stables and corn crib clening and 
ditching the wet spots in the field making clothing for the 
negros I have not Receved a leter from Maj John W. 
Childress for some time Respectfully 


August 15 Mairs wrote that he had begun to pick out cot- 
ton, but the crop was short on account of the drought. Sep- 
tember 29, 1851, he continued his story in the following 
letter: 


MairM 

I have just Receved youre Leter dated 17th of the 
present month I nough write you a few lins youre black 
people are All well at present and behaving well we have 
suffered vary much from the drought I think we will make 
a plenty of corn to surply the plase as much or more than 
we made last year the coten crop has suffered vary much 
from drought I dough not think we will make as much coten 
As we made last year by 10 bags though it is turning out 
beter than I wonst thought it would of don we have had 
so far a fin season for gethering coten we have at this time 
A Bout 100 Bals picked out of the field but we have only 
packed 20 bagsyet I have got the new gin that your Brother 
ordered and it is superer to enny Gin | have ever sean I 
am trying to Put oup a nise artickle of coten for market this 
season I think we will have 75 or 80 Hogs to sloughter 

Vary Respectfully 


Despite the overseer’s forebodings the plantation yielded 
more cotton this year than the year before, as appears from 
the following letter dated January 26, 1852: 


[ 195 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Mair 

I have receved youre leter of the 8 of this month I 
nough rite you a few lins concerning youre plantation and 
people youre people are all well and behaving themselves 
well the wether has bin vary cold more so than usual the 
stemer Monroe which took your coten the 7 of this month 
dyed not git out of the rivir for the want of water we have 
had a little rane and I am in hops she will be able to git out 
of yellowbushia river I have sent you a bill of artickles 
needed for the plantation I dyed not like to call on you 
for bakin but 1 have done my beste to Ras it and faleed but 
i will still try to Ras it Hary has requested me to let you 
nough what he is doughing for you I think he is A faithful 
servent he has Bucked [booked] this year $478.76 besids 
your plantation actcount we have packed 138 bags of coten 
and have 5 or six more to gin Vary Respectful 


[abiss)) 
List of articles 
1200 yards coten bagging 
1200 lbs of baling Rope 
12 lbs Twine 
12 sacks of salte 
3 Dosin par negros shoes of which 2 dozin To be of 
large sise No 12 and I Dos of smaler sises 
1 dozen hand hoes 8 inches wide 
1200 lbs of bakin or pickkle pork 
400 lbs of slab iron % in thick 7 inches wide 
50 lbs of blistered steal 
200 lbs of bar iron % inch thick 2 inches wide 


mam FW DN 


O 0 ON OO 


| 


Into this series of letters dealing with overseers and plan- 
tation affairs I insert the following dealing with one side 


[ 196 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


of slavery. It was written by John H. Bills to Mrs. Sarah 
C. Polk and is dated at Bolivar, Tennessee, January 28, 
1852. It runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 
I am advised by our mutual friend James Walker, 

Egr., that by the lamented death of your good old mother- 
in-law, Mrs. Jane Polk, my ward, Marshall T. Polk, is en- 
titled to “two negroes, a man and woman and perhaps chil- 
dren,” which he says are at your plantation in Mississippi. 

My object in addressing you is to know your wishes on 
the subject of retaining them for the present year and if so 
to, settle the amount of hire. If (as in the case of Bob) you 
do not desire the use of them, you will send me an order for 
them that I may have them removed to this place. 

With my best wishes for your health and happiness I am 

Very truly your obedt servt 


Mrs. Polk replied proposing to exchange the said slaves, 
Charles, his wife Lucy, and their two children, so that they 
might remain with their friends in Mississippi. Marshall 
T. Polk, then a cadet at West Point, wrote that he would 
do what seemed best for humanity’s sake. This suggestion 
did not materialize and the slaves were taken to Bolivar 
in April. Bills wrote that they seemed in distress over their 
separation from their family and friends in Mississippi and 
said he would try to arrange the matter when Marshall T. 
Polk returned to Tennessee in such a way that the feelings 
of the slaves should be satisfied. 

The total yield of the plantation in 1851 was 154 bales, 
which was very satisfactory. Mairs turned to the new crop 
with much earnestness. Writing to Mrs. Polk on April 3, 
1852, he said: 


[ 197 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Mairm 
I nough write you a few lins About your plantation 
and People Your people are all well and behaving vary 
well we have a find stand of corn and are nough Planting 
coten and making cloth for the summer Daphny has in- 
creas hir family has a daughter and calls it by the name of 
Mary An youre surplise for the plantation has got to troy 
and I have got a part of them home I have payed the frate 
and have got a bill of the artickls thar is won coil of rope 
missing your shiping merchant at troy says he will make it 
rite he says that is all that is missing by the bill of Lading 
I was thinking that the iron was short 3 larg bals bagging 
= Twine 6 Barls Pork 1 bunch hoes = 1 box merchandyse 
2 Bars iron and 1 Bar steel 2 Bolts Baging 8 coils Rope 
and 12 sacks salt 
When your last lot of coten was shiped thar was wone 
bale could not be found Ro Martin has found it and shiped 
it 2th of april on the steamer Monroe _ I have receved your 
leter da 27th of Febuary last when your brother coms down 
it will sut for him to setle with me 


Vary Respectfully 


April 24, 1852, he wrote further on the same subject and 
expressed himself as follows: 


Mairm 

I nough write you a few lins to inform you that your 
people are all well and behaving well the last Leter I 
rought you I thort thare ware a misstake in the iron you 
had sent oup frome neworleons I have nough got it home 
and R. Mullin sent me mor than the frate bill I pad cald 
for R Mulin fiels himself responsible to dough rite I think 
your surplis for the plontation is all rite to the best of my 


[ 198 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


nolage Please send me A list of the artickles frome your 
bill the iron that I have receved is this 2 bars wats 115 lbs 
I bar steal 30 lbs 2 bars slb [slab] 290 lbs I am doughing 
to the best of my Nolage we have a fine stand of corn and 
some of the coten is com oup iam in hops we will get a good 
stand of coten Vary respectfuly 


During the summer a severe type of whooping cough ap- 
peared in this part of Yalobusha County. Mairs, writing to 
Mrs. Polk on August 3, 1852, said in his usual optimistic 
way: “We have had some sickness won of the little boys 
by the name of William dyed the 18 of July some of the 
children have the whopin colf at this time the Doct sayed 
william dyed with pneumonia.” As the days passed the 
disease became more violent and August 18 Mairs wrote 
Mrs. Polk the following letter to let her know the extent of 
its ravages: 


Mairm 
i nough write you a few lins concerning youre plan- 
tation and people we had some sickness and have lost 
2 of the children sens i rote you last Daphny youngist child 
by the name of Mary an and Marier davis is youngist child 
by the name of Judy an dyed with whoping cough seams 
to have a sor thote with it the whoping cough has bin vary 
destrucktive among the children in this naberhood we have 
it nough but it seams to be some milder not much feavor 
the crop of corn is vary good the best i have had sense 1 
have bin on the plase the coten crop is good oup to this 
date and if we have a good fall and it matures well if we 
all have good helth it will put us oup to save it it bids far 
for a large crop we have made some clothing and have 
cleared some land we are nough preparing for gethging 


[ 199 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


coten the stock all loucks as well as could be exspected 
Most obedient 


A month later, September 20, 1852, he sent the following 
letter, not in his own handwriting though signed by him- 
self, and evidently written by the doctor in attendance: 


we have had for the past week or two a great deal of sick- 
ness. The children have whooping cough—all doing well 
except one Eva’s child, which will probably die in conse- 
quence of deep seated disease of the lungs. Among the 
grown ones Giles Wm Nevils, Caroline Harris and old Cloe 
have been very sick, but are now improving. Henry was 
severely attacked with Pneumonia on last friday — his dis- 
ease seemed to be giving away under treatment until yes- 
terday evening, when he got suddnly worse and died today. 
They all have an affection of the throats which is unat- 
tended with pain, but is of a fiery redness which in some 
cases spreads suddenly and rapidly throughout the system 
extending to the stomach and through the bowels also into 
the lungs, &c, &c, with excessive perspiration, great pros- 
tration, collapse and a speedy death. This was the case 
with Henry. The others will have the sore throat, although 
they do not seem to be aware of it, but with them it does 
not get worse or spread. It is in the large number of cases 
relieved by swabbing the throat with Spts Turpentine or so- 
lution Lunar Caustic and external rubefacient [?] appli- 
cations. The Doctor calls it Erysipilas, or Saint Anthony’s 
fire of the internal origin. It has been prevalent in the coun- 
try for the last year or two, and he thinks most of the deaths 
that have occurred from Pneumonia in this section within 
that time have been in consequence of this sudden exten- 
sion of Erysipilas to all the organs [through them (?) ] of 


[ 200 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


the system. We are making a tolerably fine crop of cotton 
and have been gathering very well until the recent inter- 
ruption from sickness. Have 70 Bales packed 

During the remainder of the year the letters of the over- 
seer contained little that was interesting. November 1 he 
wrote: “I think we will make a plenty of corn to surply the 
farm we have 85 hogs to slaughter the stock all lucks as 
well as could be exspected we want to finish gethering the 
crop this month if the wether is favorable won of youre 
servents by the name of eavy has increased hur family on 
13th of Oct calds hir child by the name of An marigh.” 
November 12 he wrote: “Jane increas hir family on 8th has 
a daughter calds it by the name of vilete.” 


December 21, 1852, he wrote the following letter giving 
an idea of the results of farm operations for the year: 


MairM 
i nough write you a few lins ireceved youre Leter 

dated 7th of this month thare is won or two of the negros 
sick but on the mend Old woman Sarah dyed yestaday 
morning got oup well and was taken sick dyed in 2 ours 

We have a good deal of coten in the feld Packed 125 bags 
-have 25 in the gin house ihave sen you the nos. and wats 
in a leter bifore this thare ware 50 bags of your coten ship- 
ped from troy the 9 of this month and 75 the 18 of this moh 
i think we will rase a plenty of corn and meet To surply 
the plantation we will be late in gethering the coten and it 
will make us late in the somer clothing I thort it would be 
beter to by the somer clothing and we would get a start 
agane 

Maj John W. Childress has i think the nams and ages of 
your negros he can arrange the number of hats and blank- 


[ 201 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


ets as well or beter than ican I have not receved a leter 
from youre brother in some time the stock all lucks as well 
as cold be exspected 


Vary respectfully 


The progress of cotton picking was very slow this year. 
February 1, 1853, it had not been finished, due to the sick- 
ness of the slaves. March 3, 1853, it was all over and Mairs 
wrote Mrs. Polk the following letter summing up the results 
of operations during the preceding year: 


Mairm 
i nough write you concerning your plantation And 

people wone of your negros by the name of Agy increas hir 
family the child was born ded and she dyed 5 days After- 
wards the 27 of Febuary the balans of your people are in 
reasonable helth it has bin vary sickly in yellowbushia 
county a great many deaths youre surplis has all come 
safe to hand youre coten has all bin shipped to New orleons 
the Las shipment was 19 bags ship 13th of febuary we made 
169 bags. 1 of the bags was mots And marked on the hed 
Mots 2 of the bags was vary inferure coten and 1 marked 
them on the hed [ A] won hundred and sixty nine bags in 
all 

We have sown the oats and preparing to plant corn we 
are doughing the best we can Please rite me whin you re- 
ceve this Leter Vary Respectfully 


April 18, 1853, Mairs made the following report to his 
employer: 


Mair 
I have Receved your leter dayted 13th of March we 
have had a great deal of sickness this winter but the helth 


[ 202 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


of your people are nough improving and iam in hops will 
continue toimprove we made a fine crop of coten and corn 
if we could of saved the coten but the hands was takin sick 
about the 15th of October and we have had more or less 
ever sense thare moust of bin 30 or 40 bags of coten wasted 
in the patch we never finished untwel the 14 of Febery 
though i have don to the best of my noledge all we picked 
out before we got sick was good youre com mishent mur- 
chant Rought me word that he had sold the two first ship- 
ments 50 bags at 11 cents the 2 ship 75 bags for 12 cts with 
the exception of a few bags falling in quality his leter was 
dayted 2th of January laste if I understand you to say 40 
bales brought 11 and 12 cents if that be the case iam not 
pleased so far as iam concerned 1 have settled all the clam 
aganst the plantation that I nough of I have collected a 
part of the blacksmith actcounts i have not anofe yet to 
pay the negrose but if you wish for them to have some mony 
i will let them have it 1 can wate untwell your brother come 
down for mine wages we have a fine stand of corn and will 
finish planting coten in a few days Most obedient 


June 10, 1853, Mairs wrote to John W. Childers the fol- 
lowing particulars of the progress of business on the farm: 


Sir 

a few days ago i receved youre leter dated May 24th 
1853 with an order drawn on Picket Perkins and Co New- 
orleans for five hundred and fifty dollars by Mrs. Jans K. 
Polk in my favor for my wages Last year 1 ragreate to 
learn you cold not visit the plantation i have payed the ne- 
gros two hundred and ten dollars which 1 think will dough 
untwel you come done I have made good collection withe 
the black smith actcounts when you come down we will 


[ 203 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


then settle it alloup we have had some 4 or 5 cases of dis- 
entary but nough on the mend we havea far stand of coten 
and corn and in good order the corn and coten is small for 
the season we want rain vary much at this time i will 
finish Laying by corn in a few days and soing Peas the 
stock all lucks as well as coud be exspected the Negro boy 
by the Name of Joe has left me and takin bily Nevels with 
him bily got sick Joe brought him home the ware out six 
days went of without enny cause 1 have layed the case over 
to you idoughnot think chastising him will dough him eny 
good iam told that a man came on the stages a few day ago 
and he had the small pox and so won or two in cofevill had 
cort it of him 2 of Bakers servents had it you will please 
write me when you Receve this leter 
Yours most obedent 


The flight of Joe gave Mairs much anxiety for he be- 
lieved that Joe had a bad influence on the remainder of the 
slaves. Ina letter to Mrs. Polk dated July 9, 1853, he came 
back to the subject. His letter runs: 


Mairm 

i would of writen you before this but I have bin vary 
sick with the fluxe i am just giting about several of the 
negros have had it the are all well some of the casis was 
light mearier davis wone of your servents increased hir 
family May roth calds hir child by the name of fanny We 
have had some fin rans the first of this month and the crop 
has improved the crop is good at this time both coten and 
corn and in good order the hands all seam to behave vary 
well but joe he has run away once and took bily nevels with 
him brought him home sick I have not touched him about 
it. I will tell you what I think Joe will ruin your young 


[ 204 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


men and mariner will ruin your young women Mariner is 
nough in the family way 
Yours respectfully 


August 16, 1853, Mairs wrote Mrs. Polk the following 
letter referring to the general state of affairs on the planta- 
tion: 

Mairm 

I have Receved your leter of July 30 i am Just git- 
ing so ican ride out Elisabeth tuck a back set but nough 
about again the rest of your servents are all well at present 
the crop of corn is good the best i have made sense I have 
bin on the plase_ the coten is good Groing rather large if 
eny thing thoug it depends on the season from this time out 
we have a fine young stock of hogs the stocks all lucks as 
well as could be exspected Mariner has increased hir fam- 
ily on the 3 of August Calds him by the name of Edwin 
i am in hops we will make a good coten crop the prosspects 
bid far at this time 

Yours most obedient 


The reader will doubtless have noticed the frequency of 
the birth of slave children on Mrs. Polk’s plantation. Four 
had made their appearances between September 20, 1852, 
and the end of July, 1853, not to mention the child of the 
unhappy Aggy, which was born dead, carrying the mother 
to the grave five days later. Late in August, 1853, came two 
more. Said Mairs, writing on August 22, 1853: “Daphny 
has increased hir family on the 8th August calds hir child 
by the name of Pol Evy has increas his family on the 18th 
of August Calds his name Annanias.” Thus in a year a 
plantation on which there were about 36 adults, men and 
women, saw an increase of its slave population by births of 


[ 205 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


six persons, which was unusual for such a group. )n the 
other hand it will be observed that the letters contan fre- 
quent mention of the deaths of the infants of slave mthers, 
which has a tendency to lessen the rate of increase of tie 
slave population through births. 


The prospects for a fine cotton crop in 1853 were sul- 
denly cut off by excessive rains and the ravages of tle 
boll worm, which was not the same as the boll weevil of r- 
cent decades. Mairs described this situation in a letter 
dated October 15, 1853, as follows: 


Mairm 

i nough write a few lins concerning your people ana 
farme youre people are all well at present and behaving 
well at present 1 got filllup and manuelin a short time after 
the left the corn crope is turning out finely we have a fine 
peacrop we gethered a part of the corn and have got the 
hogs in the peefield the coten crop is cut short by the rans 
and bold worm it will be short in this naborhood we have 
about 60 Bags out i am trying to handle it so it will [bring 
a good price we will] rase aplenty of meat to surply the 
plantation the stock all lucks as well as could be exspected 

Respectfully 


Subsequent letters showed that not half a crop was raised. 
The yield was only 70 bales, with two more from the tolls 
taken at the plantation gin from the cotton ginned for other 
persons than the owner. In the preceding year 169 bales 
_ were shipped and at least 30 went to waste in the fields be- 
cause the hands were sick and it could not be picked be- 
fore it was spoiled. When at last the crop of 1853 was at 
Troy, the shipping point, and rains had raised the Yalo- 
busha so the steamboats could come up, the owners of the 


[ 206 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


boats announced that freight would be $4 a bale, which was 
so much higher than in ordinary years that Mairs refused 
to put the cotton on board and wrote to Mrs. Polk for in- 
structions in the matter. The boat-owners evidently felt 
that since the crop was short they should have higher rates 
to save themselves from losses in operation. But the plant- 
ers felt that an additional hardship had been placed upon 
them, who had already lost heavily through the short crop. 

About this time an agitation began in Yalobusha County 
for a railroad, the county subscribing a portion of the cost. 
Mairs’s reflections on the subject were probably typical of 
the men of his class. They appear in the following letter to 
Mrs. Polk, dated January 10, 1854: 


Mairm 

i nough write you a few lins concerning your planta- 
tion and people youre people are all well iwrote you a let- 
er Just befor chrismas we are giting on vary well with our 
work we are clearing making cloth ceivering’ over some of 
the Negro cabins iam in hops this will be a good crop yeare 
for coten iwant to make a good crop of cotten this year the 
people are trying to bild a rale road though Yellowbushia 
county the vote was takin last year it went to tax the peo- 
ple iam told i was not at the elexion iam told it is more 
tax than som of the people exspected the have put on three 
times more than the usual tax ihave mad collection and 1 
am ready to Abide by your instrucktions Maj John W. 
Childress can inform you hough the rod will run Please 
an ser this Leter when you git it the yellowbusia River is 
lough nough Bots oup yet. 

Vary Respectfully 


1 The uneducated people of the Old South in general said “kivver” for “cover.” 


[ 207 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


Routine letters during the spring show that Mairs planted 
corn and cotton with the usual fear of cold weather and got 
a fair stand at last, which was the ordinary story. The 
health of the people also was good, as usual, and their be- 
haviour was good. The first noteworthy letter in the cor- 
respondence for this year is dated July 6, 1854, and directed 
to Major Childress. It runs as follows: 


DEar sIR 

inough write you a few lins concerning your sisters 
Plantation and people we hade some sickness among the 
children last weake and evey lost her youngist child by the 
name of anny niss_ it appears that she cant rase no children 
ihave them well nursed and medical ade the people are all 
well at present we hade a fine rane lost evening the corn 
began to neede it we have a fine crop of coten and corn 
ithink we will make a good crop if the seasons continues 
good the crop has bin well cultivated iam in hops we will 
make a good crope the negrose all behaving well working 
finely the stock all lucks as well as cold be exspected when 
youre sister gits returns for hir coten iwould like to nough 
hough it sold i think it rite as ihave the puting of it oup 
iwant to nough it will be but Litle truble to you we are 
nough making the winter clothing clearing some imen- 
tioned to you when you was down about clearing some land 
for myself i dyed not clear eny for myself igot Mr. Egle- 
_ ston overseer to clear me some this year iwould like nough 
to clear some with your sisters hands iwill give the same 
igive him or when you come down iwill dough what you 

think is Rite about it. Yours Respectfully 


A letter from Mairs to Mrs. Polk dated September 3, 
1854, gives us an idea of the quantity of cotton a good hand 


[ 208 | 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


picked out in a day when working conditions were favor- 
able. It runs as follows: 


Marrero. 

I nough write you a few lins about youre Plantation 
and people youre people are all well and be having them- 
selves well we have bin picking coten some I0 or 12 days 
the best pickers 200 lbs and 230 lbs though iam not Huring 
the wether is vary warme ithink we will make as much 
coten as we can gether in good time the bold worm has don 
some damage but i sey nough sin of them nough the corn 
crop is good ithink we will make aplenty to surply the farm 
and rase aplenty of bacon to surply the plantation the stock 
all lucks as well as could be exspected I shel not start the 
gin as urly as I have don hear to fore I had rather be later 
agining than picking out Vary Respectfully 

The winter and spring of 1854-1855 proved very unfavor- 
able for shipping cotton. At no time was there enough rain 
to produce the usual rise in the Yalobusha. April 5 no cot- 
ton had been shipped from Troy. April 10, however, Mairs 
wrote: “Your coten is on acele [keel boat] the first bote 
that has loded at troy the people are giting oneasy some 
think the will not git ther coten of this season some has 
commens halling it iam in hops yours will git out safe and 
we may have a rise.” The further fate of this cotton is re- 
lated in the following letter from the overseer to Mrs. Polk 
dated May 12, 1855: 

MairM 

I have Receved your leter dated April zoth youre 
servants are all well We have A good stand of corn the 
coten is not all oup we have had no rain sense we planted 
it it is comnig oup sloly if we could git a rain we would 


[ 209 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


sound have a good stand of coten Your surplys has all got 
oup safe 

I surpose by this time you have hurd the balans of your 
coten 55 bg was burned on the steamer Texanner I saugh 
Mr boswill hetuckit from troy Says he put it on the Tex- 
aner put itin the hol that part of the Lode was all burnt 
he was on the bote at the time I surpose your murchants 
had it inshorred at a good price I wrote to Mr. Pickett that 
it was a nice artickle sense the the other was burnt it was 
shiped to purkins Cambbell and Co pleas rite me when you 
git this leter 1 want to no what it was in shed at 


Vary Respectfuly 


The operations of the year 1855 began with the usual 
routine. We have no information about the planting and 
growing of cotton until we come to a letter to Mrs. Polk 
dated June 17, 1855, in which the overseer writes in a less 
buoyant tone than usual. He says: 


Mairm 

ihave Just Receved your leters 1 of 4th and 1 of 7th 
Your woman Jane had a child and at 2 weaks old overlyed 
it the rest of your servants are all well at present we have 
had some fivores for the last 3 weeks the wether is fine at 
present warm with some rane the crop lucks well thoug 1 
had to plant over 40 acres but it groing finely if the sea- 
sons is good and a good fall ithink we will make a good crop 
I receved a draft drone on Messrs Purkins Campbell and Co 
for five hundred and fifty dollars in my favor you wanted 
to know hough much you had to pay your negros you in 
ginerly pay them About 200 hundred dollars at a time 
ihave not collected much of the black smith act counts the 
most of them got thir coten burnt Harry dous not git much 


:2Eo. |] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


a to dough the most of the planters has a back smith 
and makes out with them if you wish I will pay them some 
of my oune mony stock sees a hard time corn is worth 
$1.50 pur bushel I will try not to buy enny 

Respectfully 


August 29, 1855, Mairs wrote to Mrs. Polk as follows: 
Marrm 


inough write you a few lins about your plantation 
and sirvants your sirvants are all well at present your 
woman evy increased hir family on 16th calds hir child 
Henry Polk We have had some dry wether sens irote you 
the coten opeen vary fast the hands has picked finely the 
crop of coten has bin cut short by the bold worm ihear goo- 
deal of complaint in this naberhood idough not think we 
will make a large crop nough but istill hope we will make 
afar crop the corn is made it is good we had a fine rane 
last evenig which will help the coten and pee crop and po- 
taters the stock all lucks as well as cold be exspected iwill 
dough my best Respectfully 


Mairs had good weather for picking cotton and the prog- 
ress was satisfactory. Writing to Mrs. Polk on November 
7, 1855, he said: 


Mair 

inough write you a few lins your servants are all 
well at present we hald Ten Bags of your coten to troy to 
day and will hall about 80 Bags before we stop we will stop 
then untwel we ship some we have had a good deal of raine 
and the Rivir is in good order for Boting the steamer uni- 
corn has bin up allthe summer will go out this rise is ask- 
ing $4 four dollars pur Bag. ithink that is rather high cot- 


[ 2an | 


The Plantation Overseer 


ton is low perhaps we will dough beter yet on this rise 
your coten is in the care of Powell and Trummell troy Miss 
we have a good deal of Coten to pick out yet the negros be- 
have themselve vary well we are doing the best we can 
write me when you git this leter Vary Respectfully 


The crop of 1855 proved fair, yielding a total of 148 bales. 
Mairs was able to ship it in three instalments; for the river 
was high enough to permit the passage of boats. November 
29 he reported the shipment of 55 bales on a “ceal Bote,” 
that is, a keel boat, named Wave,’ known in the river as 
“Bryant’s Boat.” The load was apparently transferred to 
a steamboat on the Yazoo, to which the Yalobusha is a trib- 
utary. What happened to it there is described by Mairs ina 
letter to Mrs. Polk dated December 15, 1855, in these 
quaint words: “ilurn to day that the steam bote unicorne 
Burnt las weak on the asue [Yazoo] river She had 55 fifty 
Bags of your coten on bode it Burnt oup iam in hops you 
had good inshurrans on it.””. What happened with respect 
of the recovery of damages for this loss will be seen by 
perusing the chapter in this volume dealing with the cotton 
factor.” 


Returning to plantation routine Mairs summed up the 
situation in a letter to Mrs. Polk dated January 7, 1856. It 
ran as follows: 


John A. Mairs to Mrs. Sarah C. Polk 
we Okacheckina, Miss., January 7, 1856. 
Inough writ you a few lins about your plantation 


and servants ireceved your leter of 15th and 18th of las 


1 So it seems in Mairs’s letter, but the factors in reporting arrival at New Orleans 
call the keel boat the Ware. 
2 See below, pp. 239-243. 


Pen || 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


month 1855 ihave sent to Memphis after Harbard and 
got him home Harbard is a bad boy idyed not rite you 
word that he had left the plas_he has left wons or twis be- 
fore but dyed not stay out long come in himself iwill try 
to ceap him at home and make him attend to his bisniss 
the rest of your servants is at home and all well except 
colds we are don picking out coten but not quite don gin- 
ing ihave not shiped enny of your coten sens igot your leter 
last iwill ship the balans to W.S. Pickett and Co. I have 
made 3 ship ments the 1=52 bags 2 the 55 bags 3th 20 
bags i lurn 55 bags was burnt on the unicorn i have 10 
bags packed isurpose 8 bags more i will send you a list 
of wats and number of bags when ifinish gining I am in 
hops we will have good helth and a good season and iwill 
try to make a good crope 
Vary Respectfully 


January 23, 1856, he wrote to his employer as follows: 
Mairm 


inough write you a few lins about your plantation 
and people your servants are all well at present we ar don 
the crop of coten made 148 bags isend you the nombers 
and wats of the bags it is a lite crop of coten but idon my 
best we made a good crop of corn and aplenty of Bacon 
to surply the plantation 
ihave got Harbard home and will try to keep him At 
home all of your coten has bin shipped but the 21 Bals 
iwill ship it on the first ris if enny chanc to do so and will 
ship it to W. S. Pickett and Co New orleons at this time 
the stock is doing tolerable well we have had vary cold 
wether heare ever sence the sunday before chrismas and 
vary cold at present iam in hop this year will be a good 


[ 213 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


year for crop and we may have good helth and iwill try to 
make yqu a good crop ihave collected some of the black- 
smith act counts and settling oup the plantation act counts 
Please write me when you receve this leter so that imay 
nough you have receved it Respectfully 


Mairm 

Pleas be so good As to ask your brother before he coms 
to your plantation to examin the papers of mine and Mr. J. 
T. Leigh setlement the 14 of January 1848 and the first of 
January 1849 Yours most obedent 


Mrs Polk the reason imake this request I think thare has 
bin a miss stake in the setlement if so iam willing to curect 
it and ihave nough doubt your brother will dough the same 
the papers and Recets of Mr Leigh to the President will shoe 

Respectfully 


The recovery of Harbard did not stop his running away 
as is seen in the following letter to Mrs. Polk, February 23, 
1856: 

Mairm 

inough write you a few lins your servants are all 
well Wilson is not at home he left about 2 weeks ago and 
i have not heerd of him sense i surpose he has taken the 
same Rout that harbard tuck iexspect harbard got him of 
ihave this day got Mr. James Leigh to write to Mr. Harris 
of Memphis to nough whether he is thar I lurn that some 
negro give Harbard a pass and he went a part of the way on 
the ral cars and exspected to git on a bote at Memphis your 
coten has all bin shipped and if norting has hapen to it By 
this time is in neworleons we are nough preparing for an- 
other crop and if ilive iwill dough my best to your intrust 
and to make you a crop Vary Respectfuly 


[ 214 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


Harbard, who was a “bad boy,” was brought back to the 
plantation before January 7, 1856, and placed in irons. 
How long it was likely that a “bad boy” would stay in irons 
under such circumstances may be seen from the allusion to 
the subject in the following letter from Mairs to Mrs. Polk 
dated April 23, 1856: 


Mairm 

I receved your leter of the 5 April I was in troy 
today Mr Powell sayed your surplys was on akeel bote 
about 10 mils be Lough troy waiting for a ris in the river 
I have concluded to starte Munday Next after them with 
the wagons your servants are all well and all athome I 
have released Harbard of the irons I dough hope he will 
dough beter we have a fine stand of corn nough working of 
it on about 250 acres we have a good stand of coten we 
need a little rane and ithink we would sone have a full stand 
I have in a far crop and I hope we will have helth and a 
good season and may make you a good crope I will dough 
my best | Vary respectfully. 


What was Harbard’s record during the next four months 
does not appear for no letter from the overseer survives for 
that period, but he was not cured of running away. Sep- 
tember 9 he was off again as may be seen in the following 
letter from Mairs to Mrs. Polk dated September 13, 1856: 


Mairm 
inough write you a few lins about your plantation 
and servants Mariner and Caroline Johnson has ben havin 
chils and feavor but are nough redy for work. Jane has 
increas hir family has a son and calds his name Manuel 
bourn 25th of August last the servants has behaved well 


[215 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


all but Harbard, Manuel, and fonser, and Wilson Harbard 
left on 9th and has taken thes boys along with him And 
some of the negros say he tryed to get 2 others along with 
him told them he cold of got away before but he thort he 
wold stay with Mr. Sam Walker ithink his am is to git to 
Memphis thinking you may sel him thar he liks to be in 
a sity ithink if you sel him thar when won gits displesed he 
will put out for Memphis I have sent to Hally springs 
I will nough by to Night if I dount git them ihave got a 
man to way coten iwill if nothing hapens be in Mem Phis 
Tusday next iwant to get him if you wish to sel him let 
me nough your prise 

ithink we have a far coten crop As good as ihave made 
on the plase the corn crop ithink iwill make aplenty to 
surply the plase iwill try to ras aplenty of meet to surply 
the plas we have picked about sixty thousand pounds out 
of the patch have about 15 bags gined will pack out today 

| Respectfully 


This absence, however, was brief. Writing to his employ- 
er in a letter dated September 14,* 1856, the overseer said: 


Mair 

inough write you a few lins about your plantation 
and servants your people are all well But Wilson is not 
got home Harbard and Manuel and fonser is got home 
iam in hops wilson will come home or imay here frome him 
manuel and fonser sa Harbard was agoing to take them to 
Memphis to sey there oncle But the got afird and come 
home ihave not whipped nary wone of them iwill try them 
sey if the will dough without it the wether is warm and 


1 The date may be wrong. It seems hardly likely that the fugitives would have 
come in within twenty-four hours after the preceding letter was dated or that Mairs 
would have written about it so promptly. 


[ 216 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


iwant to git the coten out But Harbard is a bad boy* we 
have had a good deal of rane and the coten has taken the 
rote [rust (?) ] some but istill think we will make a far av- 
rige crop Yours Respectfully 


The yield of the plantation in cotton in 1856 was placed 
by Mairs at 139 bales of good cotton, 4 bales of “traching,” 
and 2 bales of moats. By “traching” he probably meant 
cotton so full of trash that he would not let it go into the 
regular ginning, but placed it by itself and ginned it as a 
lot. Writing to Mrs. Polk on February 12, 1857, Mairs 
said: 

Mairm 

i nough write you a few lins About your plantation 
and people your servants are all well at this time and at 
home your servant sally increased hir family and hir child 
dyed lived only 8 days shiped the last of your coten on 
the 7 of this m= 25 Bags on the steam Bote Trader iam 
in hops you will git A good price for your coten ireceved 
a leter from your merchant dated the 3 of January stating 
he had Receved go Bags of your coten and he could git 12% 
cents all round for it iam in hops he will still git more 

we are nough preparing for another crope clering some 
land making some clothe ihope we will have good helth 
and it may bea good year for croping and we may make you 
a good crop I have not hurd enny thing frome your Brother 
in some time Vary Respectfully 


The surviving letters from Mairs are now at wide inter- 
vals. Mrs. Polk seems to have got the habit of leaving much 
to him so that he did not feel as keen a duty to report con- 
stantly as Polk had required of his overseers. Besides she 
owed him back wages and perhaps that made a difference. 


[ 217 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


His letter to her of April 15, 1857, one of the last we have 
from him, deals with general affairs on the place. It runs 
as follows: 


MairM 
i have Receved your leter March 5th your servants 
are all well But Betsia has a pain in on of hereys not much 
the mater [sic ] will be at bisness in a few days I have Re- 
ceved the surplise for the plantation all come safe I was 
in hops your merchant would of don a litle beter in the 
prise of your coten I have settled the Taxes and all the 
plantation dets ihave Bin Lucking for your brother but 
have not hurd eny thing frome him in som time you wish 
to nough if you can send my wages you can send it if your 
brother coms down or if you can send it saf another ways 
idough not want to run enny Risk myself in my settle- 
ment with your brother last year thar was due me $339.06 
three hundred and thirty nine dollars an 6 cents you may 
all so sent that if it suts your convinents. 
we have finished planting corn and iam ferfull we will 
have some of it to plant over last sunday was a weake ago 
we had asleet and snowe and ise the ground was frosed 
and inch or two deep deap frost most evry nit sense we 
will finish planting coten this weak inever commensed 
intwil 13th and am afered iam two sone nough 
Respectfuly 


May 11, 1857, we have the following letter from Mairs 
to Mrs. Polk briefly indicating what was going on at the 
plantation: 


Mair 
inough write you a few lins about your plantation 
and people your people are all well al fon ser toke a notion 


[ 218 ] 


The Overseership of John A. Mairs 


to ran away a few days ago we have had a vary cold spring 
the wether has moderated and we have some fine wether at 
this time and ihope it will continue We have had a fine 
rane we nough have a fine stand of corn But we had to 
plant some thirty acres over 30=it is oup finely we have 
a good stand of coten oup and iam in hopes we will have a 
good season from this out and we may make you a good 
crop Inclose you a rect for the draft of five hundred an 
fifty dollars Drone on Wm. S. Picket & Co. Please set [?] 
writ me when you Receve this that imay nough it 

Vary Respectfully 


After the above letter we have none at all until we come 
to the last that has had the fortune to survive. It closes 
this series of letters from overseers on the Polk plantation. 
It is dated January 15, 1858, and runs as follows: 


Mairm 

I nough write you a few lins Mairm I have receved 
your leter of January 2th 1858 Mairm your servants are 
all well and behaving well I have receved the surplise for 
the Plantation I have finished the coten crop made 129 
Bags and have shipped 115 of them to your merchant in 
Neworleans and ithink will ship the balans in a few days I 
am nough Preparing the land and fixing fora crop J amin 
hops we will be more fortunate this year I will rite you 
agane shortly and give you a list of the plantation expences 

Vary Respectfully 


In this letter is a tone of disappointment, as though the 
writer of it was too much discouraged to write more. There 
was much to warrant the feeling. Year after year he had set 
out to make a good crop, that is, a crop in which no accident 
should intervene to reduce the yield. Time and again he 


[219] ° 


The Plantation Overseer 


had failed. The crop of 1857, at 129 bales, was at least 20 
bales below the average. Rain or drought seemed to beset 
him at every effort, but he had been in the habit of rallying 
as each new year began. Probably he plucked up courage 
as the days passed and the intimations of a new season 
began to make themselves felt in his bones. Planting cot- 
ton was ever a thing of hope. One effort, with whatever it 
brought of failure or otherwise, was soon forgotten when it 
became time to prepare the land for a new planting. Then 
were formed the hopes for the new harvest. The stand, the 
fight against grass while the plants were small, the anxiety 
that the rain should be enough and not too much, the fortu- 
nate occurrence of a long sunny autumn for harvesting, and 
finally the possesion of good health by the slaves so that 
they could harvest the crop—all these were factors in a 
successful cotton crop. It was unusual for all to be present 
in one year. It was Mairs’ misfortune that the one bump- 
er crop he had during the thirteen years in which we have 
record of his stewardship was marred by the bad health of 
the slaves and the bad weather in the harvest time, with 
the result that in this year, 1852, he was not able to gather 
at least thirty bales which wasted in the fields. Such were 
the trials of a plantation overseer in the old South. 


[ 220 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER XII 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


gen OR the origin of the peculiar relation be- 
mp3 tween the Southern planter and the com- 
mission merchants who sold his crops we 
e2 must go back to the early years of Virginia 
a ~ history. The system grew up in a natural 

= way in that colony and became so well 
Be oblished that it resisted the best efforts of the authorities 
to overthrow it.” It meant that the planter shipped the pro- 
ceeds of his tobacco crop to England, entrusting it to a 
commission merchant, or factor, who sold it, bought with 
the proceeds the various articles of merchandise ordered by 
the planter and sent this merchandise back to Virginia when 
the ships were sent over for the next crop of tobacco. 

One result of this method of trading was that the market 
for Virginia tobacco was more than 3000 miles from the 
place at which the crop was grown and that the shops in 
which the Virginians obtained clothing, implements, and 
the many articles they needed for personal use were an 
equal distance from their homes. In the Middle and North- 
ern Colonies, as, for example, in Pennsylvania, the produce 
of the land was sold in colony seaports where large export- 
ing and importing houses sprang up, thus establishing a 
trading class with all the financial and social activities 
that go with such a class. No such operations existed in 


1 The origin and operation of the factorage system in Virginia is treated in the 
author’s paper “The Relation between the Virginia Planter and the London Merchant.” 
Report of the American Historical Association, 1902, I, 551-575. 


pzzmel| 


The Plantation Overseer 


Virginia where the towns did not grow beyond villages and 
the life continued until after the revolution to be rural, iso- 
lated, and to a certain extent provincial. 

The Virginia system as it developed contained many 
abuses. The planter was never at the market and had no 
way of telling that the price of tobacco returned to him 
was the best that could have been obtained. A small num- 
ber of great Virginia merchants, as they were called, grew 
up in London, who seem to have acted more in agreement 
than otherwise. Ifthe planter changed from one to another 
he was not sure of meeting better treatment. It was esti- 
mated that when expenses of freight, commissions, storage, 
and other charges were paid the planter received only 35.17% 
of the gross selling price of the tobacco. The freight was 
put at 17.97%. Tobacco growing in the colonial period was 
a profitable industry and the planter endured these abuses 
because he made large profits in spite of them. It was a 
careless kind of industry, with much of the flare of the spec- 
ulator, playing for large stakes and not counting small 
losses. 

The worst abuse arose from the tendency of the planter 
to become the debtor of the merchant. He sent over his 
crop in the confident hope that it would sell well, and with 
it frequently went orders for more merchandise than the 
proceeds of the sales would warrant. The merchant would 
allow him thus to overdraw, carrying the balance over to 
the next year. Too frequently these balances were con- 
tinued from year to year, and as long as they ran the planter 
was morally bound to continue to send his tobacco to his 
creditor, who came to feel that he did not have to be careful 
in making sales. Over these luckless ones the merchant was 
likely to exercise a great deal of power, and his victims were 


[2225] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


wont to speak of their condition as industrial slavery. 
From Virginia this system spread throughout all those 
parts of the South in which the large planter became the 
type. In the region of small farms, as in most of North 
Carolina, trade fell largely into the hands of marine huck- 
sters who came down the coast from New England, their 
schooners filled with assorted stocks of goods which they 
traded for the tobacco, pork, and turpentine of the inhabi- 
tants living along the shallow sounds and rivers of the col- 
ony. The rice planters of South Carolina, however, de- 
pended more on towns than the tobacco planters of 
Virginia, and the trade centered in Charleston, as in Penn- 
sylvania the wheat trade centered in Philadelphia. But the 
rice planters of South Carolina were a comparatively small 
part of the population. In the interior of the colony there 
was no staple crop, exports were very limited, and the 
planter class did not appear to an appreciable extent. 
Shortly after the revolution cotton began to be raised in 
quantity in the uplands of the region south of Virginia and 
the result was the extension of the planter class to all parts 
of this vast area. Here was a great staple, comparable to, 
but far more important than tobacco in colonial times, 
and much the greater part of it was exported. The old 
habit of selling through commission merchants, followed 
by the Virginians with respect of their tobacco, was now 
adopted for cotton. But there was a difference. We were 
now an independent nation and had the markets of the world 
before us. The thing to do was to establish exporting ports 
whence the cotton was shipped to whatever buyers chose to 
-have it. Here gathered the commission merchants as for- 
merly they had gathered in London. Wilmington, Charles- 
ton, Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans became the seats 


[ 223 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


of operation of the factors who served the mass of cotton 
planters of the Southern interior. Of all these cities New 
Orleans was the greatest cotton export port, because the 
Mississippi River brought it the largest quantity of cotton. 

The New Orleans commission merchant did not establish 
the same amount of authority over his clientele as the Lon- 
don merchant had exercised over the colonial Virginia 
planters, partly because the planter could keep informed 
steadily and quickly of market fluctuations, and partly be- 
cause the customer could visit that city at selling time 
if he chose to go. Moreover, the New Orleans factor did 
not, like his London prototype, buy as well as sell for the 
planter. Orders might come to him for certain plantation 
supplies, as clothing, shoes, and blankets for the slaves, to 
be sent to the plantation, or for bagging and rope for pack- 
ing the cotton, and these things might be sent in the spring 
and charged on account. But they were usually a small 
part of the value of the year’s crop. The main part of the 
proceeds of the sale effected by the commission merchant 
went to the planters in drafts to be spent by them in the 
payment for articles bought in the towns that had sprung up 
in the cotton raising area in the wake of settlement. The 
result was that the factor did not establish a hold over the 
planter by becoming his creditor and gaining a claim to his 
patronage. In this respect the new type factorage was bet- 
ter than the old. Nevertheless, it was a most important 
part of the cotton business. 

The largest factory demand for Southern cotton was in 
the region around Manchester, England, and it was here 
that the price in the ultimate market was fixed. For the 
Manchester area Liverpool was the importing city. Here 
were established the great cotton houses that bought and 


[ 224 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


held stocks to be sold to the manufacturers as the raw cot- 
ton was needed. They sold to other countries than Eng- 
land and Scotland. The New England mills themselves 
looked to them to know the prices of the staple. The Liver- 
pool houses had their buyers in the Southern towns and 
kept them advised of the quantities wanted and the prices 
to be paid. As cotton rose and fell in Liverpool it rose and 
fell in New Orleans, as quickly as the slow mails of the day 
could carry the information. The process through which 
the cotton went was, therefore, as follows: The overseer and 
the slaves made it for the planter, the planter passed it over 
to the commission merchant, the commission merchant 
sold it to the buyer, the buyer sent it to the great cotton 
dealer, and the dealer sold it to the manufacturer. 

The planter could not escape the commission merchant. 
He might sell his cotton to some local purchaser, but such 
a purchaser would have to sell it to the commission mer- 
chant. The planter, therefore, had better go to the com- 
mission merchant himself and save the profit the local 
purchaser would take for his part in the process. Black 
man and white man had worked hard to make it for him. 
He put it on a boat and sent it off with fervent god-speeds. 
He committed it into the hands of the commission mer- 
chant and waited for returns with as much of the spirit of 
resignation as he could muster. He could do nothing else. 
Records exist of some planters who thought to escape the 
commission merchant by shipping a large combined lot to 
Liverpool itself. They did not repeat the experiment for 
Liverpool had more uncertainties than New Orleans, and 
the mystery of their diminutive returns was never pene- 
trated. 

In the letters received by James K. Polk and preserved 


[ 225 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


in his correspondence in the Library of Congress are occa- 
sional letters from his New Orleans factors; but they are 
not such as will afford consecutive information about his 
dealing with them. We learn from them that he sold his 
crop early in 1838 through the house of Caruthers, Harris 
and Co. in New Orleans. The members of the firm seem to 
have been Tennessee men and Harris seems to have been 
Polk’s brother-in-law. A letter from this firm dated at New 
Orleans, June 8, 1838, shows the intimate personal relation 
between Polk and members of the firm. It runs as follows: 


DEar sIR: | 

We hand you herewith check on the Bank U.S. for 
$150 for acct. Dr. S. M. Caldwell who has doubtless in- 
structed you on the subject. We did hope to have been able 
from our own means to have sent you the $500 you requested 
some time ago, inasmuch as the proceeds of your crop had 
been fully anticipated in Tennessee by your brother; but 
we are sorry to say that such is the state of things here, that 
it is with the utmost difficulty that we can realize from col- 
lections a sufficiency to meet our imperative and indispens- 
able engagements ; and nowwhen the resources of the present 
season are nearly exhausted it is impossible to comply with 
your request without a misapplication of funds belonging 
to others. We have adjusted the loss of the 42 bales cotton 
with the underwriters on the best terms we could and will 
send all the accounts to Tennessee. 

Very respectfully, etc. 


The following extract shows what sudden changes could 
happen in the cotton market. It is from a letter written to 
Polk by W.S. Pickett and Company, then his New Orleans 
factors, December 31, 1844, and runs as follows: 


[ 226 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


We wrote you lately on the Subject of the Cotton market, 
and advising of the reception of 101 Bales of your Crop, 
which, believing there would occur no important improve- 
ment in prices during the season, we were in the act of pre- 
paring for sale this morning at the moment of the reception 
of the most disastrous news for the Cotton market we have 
yet received. The principal features of intelligence are, a 
heavy decline in Liverpool, holders pressing Sales, and man- 
ufacturers buying on their own terms. For further particu- 
lars we refer you to the Price Current which we shall send 
you tomorrow. What will be the effect upon our market 
after the excitement Subsides, we Cannot pretend to say. 
For the present we will offer none for sale. 


February 3, 1845, the factors sold Polk’s cotton to the 
amount of 1o1 bales and made to him the following returns: 


Dear sIR: 

We hand you annexed acct sales of 101 Bales Cot- 
ton, nett proceeds to your credit $2,127.44. This cotton 
we placed upon the market some days ago under an active 
demand and improvement in prices, consequent upon the 
reception of favorable news from abroad, and having ob- 
tained an offer, full a 4 ct. above the current rates (in hon- 
or of the mark) we did not think it proper to decline it." 

We did not intend for some time to have troubled you 
with the acct. sales of your cotton, as we presume you have 
your hands full, about this period, with more important 

1 The account sales attached to this letter shows that 50 bales sold at 6 cents, 
15 bales at 534 and 36 bales at 4% and the gross returns were $2,487.89. Of the 
expenses the freight was $1.75 a bale and with other shipping charges amounted to 
$197.45. Drayage, storage, weighing, etc., 50 cents a bale, amounted to $50.50; river 
insurance at 1%4 per cent on $25 a bale was $37.87; and fire insurance at % per cent 


on the selling price was $12.44. Commissions were charged at 2% per cent, $62.19. 
Total expenses, $360.45. Polk was then president-elect of the United States. 


[ 227 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


concerns, but our Mr. Walker (now in this city) prefers 

that you should be advised of the sale at once. We have on 

hand 28 Bales more which, with any further shipments for 

your acct, we will dispose of as may seem best for your in- 

terest. We are furnishing the necessary supplies for your 

plantation upon the orders of Col. Campbell and J.T. Leigh 
Very respectfully, Your obt. servts. 


During this period Polk was much in need of funds to 
prepare for the new station that awaited him. Between the 
beginning of November, 1844, and the end of the following 
March he drew four times on the factors, obtaining in all 
$4,100. His agent, R. Campbell, Jr., also received an ad- 
vance of $150 through Samuel P. Walker the Memphis 
representative of the New Orleans firm. Supplies bought 
in New Orleans and paid for in cash by the firm had been 
sent to the plantation amounting to $243.45, and other 
cash items, as interest and postage, brought the advances, 
with the four drafts, up to $4,563.90. The credits from the 
sales of 129 bales of cotton came to $2,794.95, leaving a 
balance due to the factors of $1,868.95. One of the items 
excites special interest. It reads: “Commission on $1800.44 
balance of acct to date 2 pct. $45.00.” 

This statement of acct. was sent to Polk March 7, 1845, 
and was filed as of that date. In a letter accompanying it 
the factors said they had sold the 28 bales for $567.51 net 
and that it was very inferior in quality. 

No more reports of sales appear in the correspondence 
until after Polk’s death in 1849 when the estate passed into 
the possession of Mrs. Sarah C. Polk, his widow. From 
that time they are fairly regular and give us a very good 
view of the relation between the factors and the owner of 


[ 228 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


the Mississippi plantation. They begin with the sale of the 
crop of 1849. Writing on January 3, 1850, the factors, the 
firm is now Pickett, Perkins and Company, reported as 
follows: 

Dear Mapam: 

We received some days ago the first shipment of 
your crop of cotton, 112 Bales, which we have today ex- 
amined and classed particularly and find it a very good 
article, known in our classification as “middling fair” We 
could now get 11 cts for it, probably a fraction more if it 
suited in all respects ; but as we are particularly anxious to 
get a fancy price for your Cotton, we shall not hasten the 
sale, but select a favorable time to sell, with reference to a 
demand for such Cotton. In the meantime we are asking 
11% cts for it and hope to get at least 1134. You may rely 
upon our best exertions to promote your intersts* 

Very respectfully etc. 


Referring to the crop of 1850, which did not reach New 
Orleans until the following spring, owing to the low water 
in the streams in the winter, Pickett, Perkins and Company 
wrote Mrs. Polk on March 8, 1851, as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

A few days ago we received the first shipment of your 
crop of cotton pr steamer “Monroe,” being 75 bales of which 
56 bales are in quality a high order of “middling” to “good 
middling,” and 19 bales “inferior” and stained badly. The 
56 bales are worth at present 10) and the 19 bales only 7 
or 7% cts. This is a wide difference in price, but such is 
the state of our market—and there is such a very large 


1 January 10, 1850, the firm reported that they had sold 100 bales at 113% cents 
and 12 bales at 11 cents, total $6,407.57. Charges $509.13, a net sum of $5,898.44. 
May 9, 1850, they reported the sale of the last shipment of the crop 13 bales, with 
net proceeds of $662.46. 


[ 229 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


quantity of stained or frost-bit cotton here, that the sale and 
price of it is entirely arbitrary. 

We very much regret that your plantation is so far off 
the great highway as to have prevented your Cotton getting 
to market some weeks sooner when prices were high. Our 
market has fallen about 4 cts pr lb from the highest point, 
and as your Cotton has just reached us, and prices are down 
so low that we think nothing could be made by letting it 
go in the present state of our market, we have not as yet 
offered it for sale. 

We have today received a letter from M. Childress, of 
25th Ulto. from Nashville in regard to your affairs, and are 
glad to perceive you coincide with us about selling your 
Cotton. We think it well to sell off the inferior Cotton, as 
that style will scarcely improve. And with the better quali- 
ty we will exercise our judgment. 

Very Respectfully yr. friends & servants 


March 17, 1851, the senior member of the firm, who 
stood on terms of personal friendship with Mrs. Polk, wrote 
to her as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

I am rather inclined to sell your last shipment of 
Cotton (44 bales) to a customer who is anxious to get it and 
will give an outside or high price for it, probably 11% cts. 
If I sell, it will be because I can get a price above what the 
present market justifies and of course will be promoting 
your interest. Your Dft. to your overseer, Mr. Mairs, shall 
have due honor on presentation; and it will afford me 
pleasure to attend to any order of yours outside of our reg- 
ular business. All well at home 


Very Respfly. Yr. friend etc. 
[ 230 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


ES. 
I break the seal of my letter to say that I have just sold 
the 44 bales of your cotton at 11% cts. 


Mrs. Polk’s entire crop of 1850, by the reports of the 
factors, was 137 bales, of which 32 bales were poor and 
105 were very good. Of the poor cotton 21 bales were sold 
at 7 cents a pound and 11 at 7%. Of the good cotton 44 
bales were sold at 1114 and 61 bales at 1034 cents a pound. 
The entire net proceeds of the sales were $6,096.11. The 11 
bales reported as poor and sold at 7% cents a pound, said 
the factors, had the appearance of having been wet or sunk 
in the river and then dried and repacked. This was the 
cotton which was sunk at Troy, and we see that Mairs did 
not fool the New Orleans cotton men.’ 


The next year’s crop sold at much smaller prices. The 
poorer grades were about two cents a pound lower than in 
the preceding season and the better grades were about three 
cents lower. Mrs. Polk’s factors realized this state of af- 
fairs and desiring to prepare her for it they wrote her on 
January 5, 1852, as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

We write to hand you enclosed “the remarks on the 
market” for your information about cotton. You will ob- 
serve, prices remain low, nor do we anticipate much if any 
improvement shortly, as the small rivers are now becoming 
navigable and heavy receipts are expected to follow. 

We presume your Crop will shortly be on its way to us. 
We trust we shall find it as well handled as heretofore, and 
you may rely upon our best exertions to promote your in- 


1 See above, Mairs to Mrs. Polk, March 5, 1851. 


[ 231 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


terest in the sale of it. There is a good demand today at 
prices about the same as quoted in the enclosed. 

Our city is full of company —the great Rail-Road Con- 
vention meets today ; and we regret to find your state repre- 
sented by only two delegates, Lucius J. and Geo. Polk 

Very Respectfully 
Yr. friends & C. 


“Remarks on the Market” was a printed sheet of the 
prices of various commodities then ruling in New Orleans. 
It was issued at short intervals with blank pages on which 
the factor usually added such remarks as he thought ad- 
visable. It is interesting to note the following classification 
of the grades of cotton as they had become standardized in 
this market. It will be observed that they have little ref- 
erence to the actual words used to designate them. The 
grades had become technically fixed and the cotton men in 
the city were expert in assigning a given lot to its proper 
rank. In the “Remarks” of January 3, 1852, appear the 
following grades and prices quoted for each: 


Inferior 5 @ 5% 
Ordinary 534 

Good Ordinary 6% 

Low Middling 634 
Middling 7% 

Good Middling 74 @ 7% 
Middling Fair 7% @ 7% 
Fair 8% @ 8% 

Good Fair nominal 

Good and Fine nominal 


January 30, 1852, the first shipment of Mrs. Polk’s cot- 
ton had reached New Orleans. It was of such high grade 


[ 232 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


that the factors, writing to her on that date, could not re- 
strain their admiration. It is interesting to note that this 
cotton which they called at one time “very pretty” and“beau- 
tiful” was graded at “middling fair” to “fair.” Their letter 
is as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

We wrote you on 21st Inst. informing you of a ship- 
ment of 85 bales of your Cotton on the way to us. We have 
since received it and find it opens remarkably well, classing 
fully “middling fair” to “fair.” This is very pretty cotton, 
and we have succeeded today in getting a very pretty price 
for it—g9 cts pound being decidedly above the market quo- 
tations as you will observe by the enclosed review. It af- 
fords us great pleasure to report to you what we call a 
magnificent sale of your cotton, which may be partly at- 
tributed to the neat manner in which it has been handled 
and the present active demand for such cotton. The lower 
qualities are depressed and dull of sale* 

Very Respectfully Yours 


Mrs. Polk’s second shipment reached New Orleans late 
in February. It contained 68 bales, 51 of which were 
graded at “Good Middling” and eventually sold at 8 cents 
a pound. Acknowledging its arrival the factors said, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1852, “Your overseer has handled your cotton 
remarkably well this season. The last shipment, which is 
good cotton, is much inferior to the first, which was beauti- 
ful.” These words of praise for Mairs, the faithful overseer, 
recall to us his pathetic saying, so often encountered in 

1 The net proceeds of the sale were $3,210.50. Pickett, Perkins & Co. wrote Feb- 
Tuary 4, 1852, that they could remit this sum in Tennessee credits at a profit to Mrs. 


Polk of 1 per cent; or they would hold it and allow her 6% interest, she drawing for 
it as she desired. 


[ 233 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


his letters to his employer, that he was doing the best he 
knew and that he was trying to make a good crop and put 
it up “nise.” The net proceeds for the first shipment were 
$3,210.50 and for the second $2,198.46, a total of $5,408.96. 


In the next season, 1852-1853, the same story was re- 
peated. Writing on December 13, 1852, Pickett, Perkins 
and Company said: 


Dear Mapam 

We write merely to hand you the enclosed remarks’ 
on our market from which you will notice a decline in cot- 
ton. We regret that your crop, or a large portion of it, 
could not have reached us while prices were much better 
than at present, or are likely to be again shortly. However, 
we hope a reaction in our market will result to your advan- 
tage, but we fear we shall not see prices as high again 
this season as they have been. We shall in future endeavour 
to keep you informed of the state of our market, and shall . 
take great pleasure in filling any order, or conforming to 
any instructions you may, favor us with. 

Very Respectfully 
Your friends and ob. Servts. 


A fortnight later, December 27, the factors, again render- 
ing tribute to the faithful Mairs, ate some of their brave 
words in their preceding letter and reported sales of Mrs. 
Polk’s shipment of “very pretty cotton” at a “very extra- 
ordinary price.” The letter throws interesting light on the 
cotton trade in general. It runs as follows: 

1 In the “Remarks” prices of cotton are as follows: Inferior 634 @ 7, ordinary to 
good ordinary 744 @ 75%, low middling 8, middling 81% @ 8%, good middling 8% 


@ 9, middling fair 9%, fair 1014 @ 10%, good fair—nominal, good and fine — 
nominal. 


[ 234 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


Dear Mapam: 

It gives us much pleasure to report the arrival of the 
first shipment of your cotton and its sale at a very extraor- 
dinary price, 50 bales at 11 cts less %4 ct on 8 bales only as 
pr. acct sales herein showing nett proceeds at your credit 
$2328.01. We were fortunate in selling this shipment 
promptly, and in meeting with a customer who wanted it 
badly. We know it will give you great satisfaction, the 
price being above the quotations for any cotton in the 
market. we will not however take all the credit to ourselves 
in this great sale. The large portion of the 50 bales was 
very pretty cotton, and your overseer deserves much praise 
for the beautiful manner he has prepared it for market. We 
hope the future shipments will turn out as well. 

The enclosed price current will show you how our market 
stood up to Friday night last. Prices were nominal, as all 
parties were in suspense and waiting the arrival of the for- 
eign accounts. Those accounts come yesterday — very bad 
for cotton and consequently our market today is down fully 
Y% ct below the quotations you will observe in the enclosed 

Very Respectfuly Your ob. servt. 


In the following statement the charges deducted by the 
factors from the gross proceeds from the sale of this cotton 
we may observe the rates of the several items of expense 
paid by the planter: 

Freight 2.50 a bale— $125.00 

Shippers charges pr. B/L. $10.50 for the lot. 10.50 

Dryage, storage, weighing & Labor @ 50 cts 25.00 


River insurance — 21%4% of $40. a bale 50.00 
Fire. i on sale 4% 13.08 
Comsns. on sale 214% 65.43 

$289.01 


[ 235 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


During this season Mrs. Polk lost 33 bales of cotton and 
one bale of motes in a fire which destroyed the New Orleans 
warehouse in which they were stored. The loss was ad- 
justed by her factors speedily by what regulations we do not 
know. The letter of the factors relating to the matter, 
March 5, 1853, is regrettably brief, and that part which 
deals with this subject is as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

The great fire which occurred in the Alabama Cot- 
ton Press on the 2d Inst., where we store, destroyed your 
two last shipments of Cotton, say 33 bales and 1 bale moats, 
for which we now enclose a statement adjusting the loss 
and showing nett proceeds of same at your credit $981.49. 
This adjustment is in accordance with the law and custom 
of the Insurance Companies here, and we hope will prove 
satisfactory to you. The Brokers declined to fix any value to 
the bale of moats as they were not aware that it was worth 
anything. We had been trying to sell it for some time, 
but without finding a purchaser at any price. We put it in 
your statement at $10 which we presume will be satisfactory 
under the circumstances.) %)/.)/. (0 


Putting together the facts on the subject in the reports of 
the factors it appears that the proceeds of the sale of the 
cotton crop in this season were as follows: 


The first shipment, 50 bales, $2,328.01 
The second shipment, 75 bales, 3,185.07 
The third shipment, 10 bales, 414.90 
Paid by Insurance Company for cotton 

burned in warehouse, 981.49 
Total proceeds, $6,909.47 


[ 236 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


The year 1853 was an unlucky year for Mrs. Polk. The 
crop was cut off by boll worms and excessive rains until 
only 72 bales were shipped. Few as they were they arrived 
late in the market, just after prices had taken a decided 
drop. The financial return was meagre. W.S. Pickett,* writ- 
ing on February 3, 1854, said: 


Dear Mapa 

Meee tale The cotton prospects have undergone a 
change for the worse since I had the pleasure of writing to 
you on the subject. The severe pressure in the money 
market, and the great difficulty in negotiating bills to pay 
for produce, are at present the most unfavorable points in 
the trade. For particulars we shall send you the usual re- 
view of the market tomorrow, hoping for a decided im- 
provement by the time your crop reaches us. We shall of 
course exercise our best judgment as to the propriety of 
selling on arrival or holding for a better price 

Very Resptfy Yours 


March 1, 1854, Pickett’s new firm, Pickett, Macmurdo 
and Company, wrote Mrs. Polk as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

Be es 0 The General Stokes brings us the first 
shipment of your cotton crop, 72 bales, in the quality of 
which, the writer is much disappointed, as it is greatly be- 
low your first shipment of the last season The 72 bales are 

52 middling fair worth 10 to 10% 

20 goodordinary ” 734 tO 83; Cts 
As there is some prospect of cotton doing better, and as 
We are anxious to do better than the above figures, we shall 


1 Pickett was now in the firm of Pickett, Macmurdo & Co. which he had formed 
during the preceding year. The old firm was known as Perkins, Campbell & Co. 


[ 237 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 
not be in a hurry to sell. Will keep you advised of what we 


The days and weeks passed, prices still continued to 
fall and the factors held on to the cotton, waiting for the 
turn that usually comes in the spring. To keep up the 
spirits of their client they wrote her on May 22, 1854, as 
follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

We fear you may become impatient in regard to the 
sale of your Cotton. When it arrived our market had de- 
clined considerably, and prices have since, we think, reached 
the lowest point of the season. We have therefore been in- 
clined to hold on to your Cotton under the impression that 
prices would improve as the causes of depression disap- 
peared. We are still of this opinion, and a more favorable 
feeling is now apparent, induced by rather lower freights, 
and a less stringent money market. 

The enclosed review of our market for Saturday will 
show you its lowest depression.’ ‘Today there has been an 
active inquiry, resulting in the sale of about 10,000 bales at 
an improvement in prices. Your letter of 4th April was 
duly received submitting the sale entirely to our judgment. 
We trust it will not be long before we shall be able to report 
satisfactorily. In the mean time should you require to draw 
upon us, your Dft or Dfts at sight will be duly honored 


It was not until spring had gone and summer had ar- 
rived that they were able to report a sale, at prices only a 
little below those that might have been obtained in Febru- 

1 Prices were: Inferior, 4 @ 5 cts.; ordinary, 544 @ 6 cts.; good ordinary, 6%4 @ 


6% cts.; low middling, 6% @ 7 cts.; middling, 74 @ 7% cts.; good middling, 84 @ 
8¥4 cts.; middling fair, 814 @ 9 cts.; fair, nominal; good fair, nominal; good and fine, 


nominal. 
[ 238 | 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


ary when the cotton arrived. Their report of the sale, made 
June 23, 1854, does not disguise the feeling of relief in 
Pickett’s mind that he had escaped as well as that. His let- 
ter runs: 


Dear Mapam: 
We have to advise the sale of your crop of Cotton say 
53 Bales middling fair at 10 cts 
toy very ordinary at 672 cts 
The late improvement in our market has enabled us to 
realize a better price for your cotton than we could have 
commanded at any time during several weeks past. It is 
no more however than we could have obtained at the time 
of its arrival, but hoping to do better, we were induced to 
hold on; hence the loss of time is about all the damage we 
have done you by the exercise of our judgment 
The 19 Bales is of course very low Cotton, being stained 
badly, and of inferior staple—the last pickings of your 
Crop. In a day or two we will wait on you with act sale’ 
Very Respfy Yr. 
Obt. Servts. 


The year 1854 proved even more disastrous than 1853 
for Mrs. Polk. So many things went wrong that it 1s difficult 
to see what worse luck she could have had. In the first 
place there was a short crop in the country at large and 
knowing ones foretold good prices. Mrs. Polk made a fair 
crop and it seemed that she stood to win. Then came the 
Crimean War, which produced such anxiety by the autumn 
of 1854 that the demand for cotton was lessened, with a 
consequent loss in prices. The autumn was dry, as usual 
the water was low in the Yalobusha River, and it was not 


1 The sale netted Mrs. Polk $2,755.14. Freight, $2.25 a bale; commission, 244%. 


[ 239 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


possible to ship cotton until late. Mairs hauled it to Troy, 
as he was in the habit of doing, and stored it in one of the 
warehouses there against the arrival of the steamers with 
the rise of the river. When 100 bales were thus in storage 
fire broke out in the Troy warehouses and burned a large 
quantity of cotton. Thus was destroyed all of Mrs. Polk’s 
100 bales, and she had no insurance. But 55 bales remained 
to her. These were sent to market on what Mairs called 
the “ceal bote,” Wave, but the factors call it the Ware. 
Whatever the name the keel boat sunk. Mrs. Polk’s cotton 
was rescued, placed on another boat, the Texana, which 
started on its journey. But the Texana was burned in the 
Yazoo River. The result was that only one bale of the 
plantation’s product reached the market that year. It was 
tantalizing to learn that this bale was of unusully good 
quality. For the 54 bales burned on the Texana insurance 
was collected at $50 a bale. March 7, 1855, W. S. Pickett 
wrote Mrs. Polk as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

In consequence of my absence of nearly three weeks 
on a trip to Memphis, your letter of 17th Ult, enclosing one 
from your overseer, Mr. Mairs, did not reach me until my 
return two days ago. 

When I heard of the fire at Troy, I feared that some of 
your cotton might be there “in transitu”, and I deeply regret 
now to learn that my fears have been realized, and to the 
extent reported by Mr. Mairs. I have no doubt it is a total 
loss to you, unless your instructions and customs hereto- 
fore has been to have your cotton insured against fire at 
Troy previous to shipment. This is so rarely done, indeed 
the chances of loss are considered so remote, that not one 
planter in a hundred thinks it necessary to adopt this pre- 


[ 240 | 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


caution, and I presume you did not. I shall however write 
to Mr. Mairs for information on this point and do all that 
can be done to protect your interests 

Your cotton is always covered by Fire Insurance while in 
store here, as soon as it reaches our hands; and this is the 
charge you observe in your acct. sales. I shall write you 
further when [hear from Mr. Mairs 

The 55 bales of your crop have not yet reached Perkins, 
Campbell and Co.* Low water in the small rivers I suppose 
is the reason. I shall give the sale my attention. The mar- 
ket has improved a little as you will see by the enclosed slip. 


Very Respfy Your friend etc. 


March 20, 1855, Pickett followed up this letter with 
another in which he said: 


Dear Mapam 
I wrote you on 7th Inst. and have now to say, that I 
have heard from Mr. Mairs who informs me that no in- 
surance was effected on your Cotton burnt at Troy. This 
is as | supposed. Shipping merchants in the interior never 
insure the Cotton of their customers while passing through 
their hands. 

From my experience in a “big fire” that occurred here 
two years ago, I know well how to sympathize with you in 
the loss you have sustained, though it will not, I hope, sub- 
ject you to serious inconvenience or force you to adopt the 

“credit system” which you seem so anxious to avoid. If it 
should, please bear in mind that I am always ready to sup- 
ply your wants. 


1 Pickett seems to have gone out of regular business, but to have been looking 
after Mrs. Polk’s affairs through the house of Perkins, Campbell & Co. One hundred 
bales of Mrs. Polk’s cotton were burned. "The 55 bales mentioned in this letter was 
the remainder of her crop. 


[ 241 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


The remainder of your crop has not yet reached this 
market. The low stage of the waters, is of course the cause 
of the delay. In the mean time, our market has improved 
considerably, prices having gone up % or 3% cts within the 
past 10 days owing chiefly to advice from Europe of the 
death of the Czar and the increasing prospects for peace 

Very Respfy and Truly Yours 


Pickett’s next addition to the bad news was embodied in 
a letter dated April 23, 1855, and runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

A fatality seems to attend your crop of cotton this 
year. The 55 bales not burned at Troy were shipped 
on a keelboat as soon as there was sufficient water in the 
river which keelboat was sunk in the Yallabusha before 
reaching a reshipping point. Your cotton was recovered in 
a damaged condition and again shipped on board the Steam- 
er Texana and this boat took fire in the Yazoo river and 
was consumed with most of her cargo 

I do not regard this loss as detrimental to your interest. On 
the contrary, I think it will result to your interest, as your 
cotton was insured at $50 p. bale, a high valuation and more 
than it would probably bring in the market, considering it 
was the last of your crop. I will attend to the adjustment 
of the loss and see that everything is properly done. In the 
mean time, you might as well instruct me what you will 
have done with the proceeds of the cotton — how you will 
have it remitted etc., etc. 

Very Respfy Yr friend and ob. svt. 


The end of this doleful matter is in the following state- 
ment rendered by Perkins, Campbell and Company, to 
whom the cotton was consigned: 


[ 242 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 
Mapam: 


We now wait On you with a statement of (1) your 
account current including sale and adjustment (2) of loss 
on 55 bales Cotton p Texana, all of which will, we trust be 
found correct and satisfactory. Leaving to your credit as 
requested to pay dft in favor of your Overseer, which has 
not yet been presented — $550.— we invest the balance due 
you in the enclosed (3) check of Joseph W. Allen Agt. on 
Bank of Tennessee for $1484.30 bought @%4 %odis — $7.42 
[making] $1476.88. 

We supposed we had Our Insurance policy high enough 
to cover the value of your shipment but if the Cotton de- 
stroyed was as good as the bale received it would have 
brought zm a Jot even more than 12 cts, probably 13 @ lb and 
We presume its average weight was fully 470 lbs. The bale 
received brought as you will perceive $56.40 

Very Respectfully 


The crop of 1855 began to arrive in New Orleans in No- 
vember, in time for the early prices. It was consigned to 
Perkins, Campbell and Company, although W. S. Pickett, 
still interested in the firm, kept a close oversight over it and 
wrote to Mrs. Polk about its disposal. His first letter of 
this season, written from New Orleans November 22, 1855, 
runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

On my return home yesterday I found your esteemed 
favor of 12th Oct. It is I hope, needless to say that my long 
absence from home (much longer than I anticipated) has 
caused the delay in replying to you. 

I attended promptly to your request on my arrival at 
Memphis several weeks ago, about the Insurance of your 


[ 243 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


cotton, by taking out a policy against fire while in the ware- 
house at Troy, and as I have policies to protect it against 
loss by navigation on the rivers and against fire while in 
store in this city, there is now, no interregnum of insecurity 
between its leaving your gin-house, and final disposition 
here. You need therefore give yourself no further uneasi- 
ness about it. All shall be right. The talk about “Con- 
demned boats”, “new regulations’, etc is no new thing. The 
board of underwriters here, condemn and reinstate boats 
every season for some cause or other, but I have no idea 
that your agents at Troy will ship your cotton in such a 
manner as to vitiate the insurance upon it. 

Our cotton market is doing well under all the influences 
_ bearing upon it. Such cotton as you have generally sent 
to this market, would now command about II cts 


Very Respfy yr. ob. Svt 


The first shipment of Mrs. Polk’s cotton, 52 bales, ar- 
rived late in November and Perkins, Campbell and Com- 
pany reported that it was of very good quality and that 
“nearly half of it is such as we expect to sell for a fancy 
price.” A few days later, but in the month of December, 
W. S. Pickett wrote to her as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

Mr. Walker and Gov. Campbell left here on Sunday 
to return home. During their stay, we had a general disso- 
lution and settlement of all our affairs in the house of Per- 
kins Campbell and Co. Sam and Gov. Campbell retire al- 
together from the business, and I withdraw my means, re- 
ceive a bonus for the last year’s loss of time, and cancell my 
partnership agreement with Mr. Walker. 

You will see from the above card, that I have branched 


[ 244 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


out on my own account, (free of all liabilities of the old 
house) and am now, I presume, a “commission merchant 
for life.” 

Your favor of 20th Ult came duly to hand. The ship- 
ment of 52 B/ Cotton in the hands of Mr. Perkins is not 
yet sold. The best offer had for it last week was 10 cts 
but I doubt if the offer will be repeated as our market has 
undergone a change for the worse. I see no reason how- 
ever to hurry the sale, under the anticipation of much lower 
prices. 

I shall esteem it a favor if you will order the remainder 
of your crop to be shipped to my new firm, and even to give 
me an order for the shipment now here. I am almost in- 
clined to write to your overseer to ship to me believing it 
would meet your approbation’ 

Mary and the children came down with Sam about 2 
weeks ago. She has been quite busy fixing up for the winter 
— desires to be affectionately remembered to yourself and 
‘Miss Childress. 


Very Respfy your friend etc 


The fire demon was still in pursuit of Mrs. Polk, but she 
now had no cause to fear him for her cotton was insured 
for more than it would bring in the market. This pleasing 
news came to her in a letter from W. S. Pickett dated 
January 3, 1856. It reads as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 
Your esteemed favor of 18th Ulto came duly to 
hand and shall receive proper attention. The bill of sup- 


1 Jn an announcement printed at the head of the sheet on which this letter was 
written it was stated that W. S. Pickett had resumed the “Cotton factorage and Gen- 
eral Commission Business” under the firm name of W. S. Pickett & Co. He spoke of 
his 12 years’ experience in this kind of business. 


[ 245 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


plies as stated by Mr. Mairs for your plantation this year, 
shall be forwarded in due season, when navigation is most 
favorable. We have so informed Mr. Mairs. 

We have today received from Perkins and Co $1969.41 
at your credit with us being the proceeds of your first ship- 
ment 52 B/C as p. act. sales herein. Your next shipment 
of 55 bales, for which a bill of lading was received here, was 
burnt on the steamer “Unicorn” in Yazoo River, a total 
loss so far as has been ascertained. This is a “streak of 
good luck” as the Cotton was insured at $50 p. bale which, 
you will perceive, is more than the value of the first shipmt. 
The Insurance Office claims the usual 2 pct. discount for 
cash, or 60 days time after proof of loss. We shall allow the 
time, as you are not pressed for money, and 2 pct. is a heavy 
rate for 60 days. In the mean time, you may rely upon our 
attention to the adjustment of the loss... . . 


Settlement was duly made with the insurance company 
and on as advantageous terms as Pickett anticipated. His 
letter to Mrs. Polk of January 12, 1856, gives an account of 
the completion of the settlement, as well as some other ma- 
terial information about the relation between factor and 
planter. It runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

Since our respects of 3d Inst we have received your 
favor of 3d. As your 55 Bales were consigned to Perkins & 
Co. and insured under their policy, we thought it best to 
use their name in the adjustment of the loss. The Insur- 
ance Company paid the money deducting only % pet, and 
we yesterday received the proceeds $2557.84 as p. statement 


[ 246 ] 


ee 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


herein. We also enclose original of Jas. Robb and Co check 
on New York endorsed by us for $4,561.45 


Discount 34 p. ct 34.20 
$4527.25 
being a full payment as desired by you 
for proceeds 52 B/C $1969.41 
~ 2557.84 
$4527.25 


This is the best remittance we can make you, and we 
think it a very favorable one for your interest as the Bank 
of Tennessee will no doubt allow you a small premium for 
the check on New York, but if she allows no premium, the 
34 Discount is better than we can do for anything direct on 
Nashville. 

The Bill of Lading for 20 Bales is at hand transfered to 
us. The cotton also came to hand yesterday; but as the 
weather is awfully bad, and unfavorable for outdoor busi- 
ness, we may not be able to get it sampled and on the mar- 
ket for some days to come. The market is firm and there is 
no danger, we think, of any immediate decline. 

Your affairs in this quarter are all perfectly straight, and 
your interest well looked after so you need give yourself, not 
the slightest uneasiness in regard to them." Hoping what 
has been done so far will meet your approbation we are 

Very Respfy Your friends etc. 


Beside the 20 bales of cotton here mentioned other ship- 
ments of 21 bales in all arrived and were sold by the factors. 
The net proceeds of the 41 bales came to $1,454.36, so that 


1 Perkins & Co. reported to Mrs. Polk, January 1, 1856, that they had closed up 
the imsurance matter of 55 bales and turned over the money to W. S. Pickett & Co. 
as directed by Mrs. Polk. ‘They said also that it was proper for her to transfer 
her business to Pickett, adding “and in view of the relations existing between you and 
Mr. Pickett’s we could not ask or expect” to have her custom. 


[ 247 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Mrs. Polk realized from her entire crop of 1855 the sum of 
$5,981.61. 

The season of 1856 opened with the assurance that the 
crop was short and the stocks held in the great markets of 
the world smaller than usual. Mrs. Polk was lucky enough 
to have a fair crop, 143 bales. The letters of her factors 
give us quite a complete view of its sale, with some interest- 
ing glimpses of the relations that existed between the two 
sides of this kind of business. Writing on November 5, 
1856, the factors, W. S. Pickett and Company, said: 


Dear Mapam: 

Your favor of 9th Ulto came duly to to hand in which 
you request that the whole of your crop of Cotton may be 
received by us before we offer it for sale if not contrary to 
our judgment to withhold it from market. 

Your suggestion on this point corresponds with our pres- 
ent opinions in regard to the future course of our market, 
and we feel no hesitation in conforming to your wishes. 
The principle cotton markets of the world are lightly stocked, 
and we think therefore that prices will advance, in the face 
of the present short crop, which appears to be considered as 
a fixed fact. The price current annexed will give particulars 
of our market, and we shall endeavour to keep you in- 
formed from time to time. We have effected insurance on 
your cotton while it remains in store at Troy, as last year 

Very Respfy Your friends etc. 


December 24, 1856, W.S. Pickett and Company reported 
as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 
The first shipment of your Cotton is now on hand 
— 90 bales — about one half is low middling and the other 


[ 248 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


half good middling and worth at present 12% @ 12% cts. 
We bear in mind your instruction to with hold your crop 
from market until it all arrives and you give orders for its 
sale. The market has been trending upwards, and the feel- 
ing in the cotton trade, is favorable for a further advance 
during the season. We shall advise you of the arrival of 
each shipment of your Cotton, and also the changes and 
prospects of the market — Very Respfly your friends etc 


The next letter from the factors, dated January 21, 1857, 
runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

Your favor of 13 Inst. is received with the requisition 
of your overseer, Mr. Mairs, for the usual yearly supplies 
for your plantation. This shall have all proper attention. 
We presume it is your wish and expectation, as formerly, to 
have these supplies purchased and shipped at a time when 
the waters are up — navigation unobstructed — and freights 
low. 

Since our last we have received a further shipment of 
your cotton — 30 bales, barely as good as the go bales first 
received. It is worth in our present market, 12 cts. The 
latest foreign advices are favorable for Cotton, but they 
were anticipated by us here, and have had no sensible effect 
upon our market. In fact, prices are not so firm or full as 
before, and we are beginning to entertain the idea of selling 
your crop under the discretion you give us, for fear of one 
of those “break downs” in the market that we have experi- 
enced before under similar circumstances. 


Very truly yours. 


The factors continued to watch the cotton market, which 
was lucky enough to escape one of the dreaded “break 


[ 249 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


downs.” Early in February they began to feel that the time 
to sell had arrived, and to prepare their client for such ac- 
tion they wrote her on the fifth of that month the following 
letter: 


Dear Mapam: 

We have shipped your plantation supplies in accord- 
ance with the list made out by Mr. Mairs which you fur- 
nished us. Enclosed we hand you the invoice amounting to 
$553.52 at your debit." We hear of a considerable rise in 
the Yallobusha river and trust your supplies will reach their 
destination without unusual delay. 

Our cotton market has advanced slightly —prices are 
firm — and we are induced, to place your crop on the mar- 
ket, under the impression that the present is about as 
favorable a time to sell as we shall have. As we remarked 
in a former letter, your crop does not come up in quality 
and cleanliness to what it used to be; but we shall do the 
best that can be done to obtain a high price. The average 
value of it is 12% cts. Very Respfy Yrs. 


February 14, 1857, they wrote her as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

Your favor of 3d Inst. came duly to hand. We 
thought it advisable last week to make sale of your crop of 
cotton for which we hand you herein a/c sale 120 Bales 
showing nett proceedings at your credit $6,227.93. You 
will find this an average price of more than 12¥ cts p. lb, 
and we trust the sale will give satisfaction. The market re- 

1 The invoice shows that Mrs. Polk paid 18 cents a yard for bagging, 10% cents 
a yard for rope and 18 cents a lb. for twine. Shoes were $17.50 a dozen pairs and 
4 dozen were ordered. Campeachy hats were $3.50 a dozen and 4 dozen were ordered. 


766 lbs. “bacon sides” @ 11 cents. Slab iron was 6 cents a |b. and bar iron was 5 
cents, Salt was 95 cents a sack. 


[ 250 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


mains about the same as when we sold. You direct us to 
remit in the “usual way”, and presuming a sight check on 
New York will command a premium in Nashvle of about 
one pct. we hand you herein Jas. Robb and Co cks at sight 


on Robb, Hallett & Co. New York $5,714.24 
Discount 7% pct. 50.00 
$5,664.24 


This will balance your acct. at present. When we receive 
and dispose of the remainder of your crop we will send you 
statement in full of your a/c Very Respfy 


Twenty-three bales arrived a short time later, with two 
bales of motes, which both factor and overseer spelled 
“moats.” Writing on March 9, 1857, W. S. Pickett and 
Company reported sale of the cotton as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

We have now to wait on you with the enclosed acct 
sales of your last shipment of Cotton, viz. 

19 Bales“J.K. Polk”—nett proceeds $959.20 

ee | A do. 183.24 

This cotton was quite low in quality. It has brought a 
high price not with standing, and we hope the sale will give 
you satisfaction. We have yet on hand of your crop 2 bales 
of moats, not sold. We shall probably get 8 @10$ p. bale 
for them. 

We do not remit for this sale as in the first case, because 
exchange on N. York has got up to par and the inducements 
to remit in that way are not the same as before. Besides 
you have always heretofore reserved a certain amt. here 
for your overseer, Mr. Mairs. We shall therefore wait your 
instructions in regard to your funds now in our hands. 

Very Respfy. 
[ 251 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


The allusion to the two bales of motes in the following 
letter written March 12, 1857, indicates with what con- 
tempt the dealer in cotton regarded them. In fact, they 
sold so low that it is a question if it would not have been 
better to have used them for bedding in the stables. Put- 
ting these returns with those made previously it is seen that 
the crop of 1856 sold for $6,818.14. The report of March 
12 runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 

Since we wrote you on 9th Inst. enclosing a/c sales 
of your last shipment of cotton, we have disposed of the 2 
bales of moats as p. acct. sale herein, nett proceeds of same 
at your credit $11.46. we have also to acknowledge rect. of 
your favor of 5th Inst, and conforming to your wishes, we 
hand you herein A. Wheless ck. on Bank of Nashville 
$608.46; Discount 34 pct. $4.56: at your debit $603.90. 
This you will perceive, closes your acct. to a point as P. 
statement herein, reserving $550 to meet your Dft. to Mr. 
Mairs as advised. Exchange on the North is now at a 
premium here, and it is rather to your advantage for us to 
remit in a check on Nashville. 


Very Truly and Respfy Yrs 


The insurance for this year at Troy I will charge when 
paid to your next year’s a/c. 


For some reason not revealed in the correspondence W. 
S. Pickett’s firm did not outlast the season of 1856-1857. 
Retiring from business in New Orleans he joind an old and 
strong firm of cotton brokers in Memphis, Tennessee, op- 
erating under the name of Harris, Wormley and Company. 
This change was made in the summer, and July 7, 1857, 


[ 252 | 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


Mrs. Polk was advised of it. Pickett recommended her, if 
she wished to continue to sell in New Orleans, to deal with 
John Williams and Company. She did not, however, take 
his advice and returned to the firm of Perkins and Com- 
pany with which she had done business while Pickett was a 
member. His letter of July 7, written from Memphis, con- 
tains the following interesting observations about the pros- 
pects of Memphis as a cotton market: 

“T trust however this severance of our business connex- 
ion, will be of short duration. The cotton business of Yal- 
lobusha is fast concentrating at Memphis. Already there 
is a great deal of cotton from that county, hauled to within 
reach of the Mississippi and Tennessee Rail Road and 
thence to Memphis. In another year the Rail Road will 
perhaps penetrate as far as Grenada (its destined point) 
and it may be within a very short distance from your plan- 
tation. In that event, you will find it to your interest to 
send your cotton here, like everybody else, and order your 
supplies from this point. Memphis is the best market for 
cotton planters who are in reach of it by Rail Road Com- 
munication, as it 1s accessible at all times, and the charges 
are much less than in New Orleans.” 


Pickett continued to show an interest in Mrs. Polk’s af- 
fairs. The last letter we have from him, written in Mem- 
phis, January 29, 1858, indicates that he was looking after 
the insurance of her cotton while it was stored at Troy, on 
the Yallobusha River. It runs as follows: 


Dear Mapam: 
I ought to have advised you long since that I had 
renewed your Insurance on your Cotton Crop this season 
while it may remain in store at Troy as heretofore. Please 


[ 253 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


excuse the omission. I am and have been very much pressed 
with labour which require attention nightly until 10 or 12 
Ock. I find it much more labourious here than in N. Orls, 
because of the very many Cases of small planters and their 
orders— and the want of system and regularity of Con- 
ducting business. 

I have paid the Insurance Agency here the premium for 
you on your last seasons crop as P statement herein of 
$23.34. This you can refund at your convenience. I only 
desired at present to let you know that I had not overlooked 
the more important matter of protecting your present crop 
while awaiting shipment at Troy. My family all well. Mrs. 
J. Knox W[alker] has been staying with us some days. 

Very Respfy Yr. friend etc 


Mrs. Polk’s correspondence with Perkins and Company, 
of New Orleans, for the season of 1857-1858 begins with a 
letter from that firm dated October 13, 1857. It shows that 
the firm was having her gin-house, the cotton in it, and the 
cotton at Troy insured by underwriters in New Orleans. 
The letter runs as follows: 


Mapam: 

We have yours of 6th Inst and beg you to accept 
Our thanks for your patronage and confidence. We shall 
strive to prove Ourselves worthy. 

We have effected insurance against fire on Cotton in 
your Gin house to amount of $2000 for 4 mos. from Ist 
Inst. This will cover about 40 bales Cotton and will in- 
clude the whole shipping season with you we presume. We 
write to your Overseer to know some particulars as to the 


1 February 10, 1858, Perkins & Co. rendered a bill showing that they paid $50 for 
insuring Mrs. Polk’s gin-house for four months. The rate was 244%. For insuring 
the cotton at Troy they paid at the rate of 134%. 


[ 254 ] 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


ginhouse which have a bearing on the rate of insurance and 
have also requested him to give us notice in case he should 
find a stock exceeding $2000 in value accumulating in and 
around the gin 

We have also taken insurance on Cotton to amount of 
$2000 on Cotton at your landing until the crop is shipped 
commencing with this date, estimating that you will not 
have more than 40 bales or 50 at the landing at One time. 
This last insurance has a condition that in case of loss you 
share one fourth. Our regular policies cover the Cotton 
from the time of shipment until sold and delivered. We 
have mentioned the details of these insurances for your ref- 
erence (if necessary) hereafter, but in general terms we will 
say that we are endeavouring to protect you from loss by 
every possible means. We trust however that your full 
share of misfortune has already been realized. 

Can you inform us whether your gin house is insured? 
And if not is it your wish that it should be done and for 
what amount? When we Once understand the position of 
these things we shall be able to give them due attention 
without troubling you Very respectfully 


December 4, 1857, the firm wrote, sending supplies or- 
dered for her plantation, and referring to the state of the 
cotton market. The letter is as follows: 


Mapam: 

We received several days since yours of 23d Novem. 
with Order for plantation supplies, but until today we have 
had no Opportunity to ship them. The articles have now 
been shipped per steamer “Hope” as per enclosed invoice’ 


1 By this invoice the following prices were paid for the supplies: Bagging @ 
12 cts. a yd., Rope 8% cts. yd., Twine 17 cts., Salt 75 cts, Campeachy Hats $2.25 a 
doz., Clear sides, 14 cts. a lb., Russet brogans $18.00 a doz. pairs, Bar iron 5 cts., 


Slab iron § cts. 
[ 255 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


to your debit — $484.65. ‘The Captain of the boat thinks he 
will be able to get to Troy but there is great uncertainty as 
to navigation to that point 

We regret that a portion of your cotton at least had not 
come to hand to get the benefit of the good demand and 
very fair prices which have prevailed for the last two weeks. 
The market is now Completely unsettled by the Liverpool 
news received P. America and it is difficult to say what Cot- 
ton is worth, though we may say that the decline is not less 
than half a cent here. We sold a few days before receipt of 
this news all the Cotton we had on hand except about five 
hundred bales which we with held from the market by order 
of owners 


Very respectfully 


By New Years three shipments of Mrs. Polks cotton had 
arrived at New Orleans, in all 115 bales. As the market 
was not good the factors decided to hold it pending develop- 
ments or instructions from the owner. This determination 
they reported to Mrs. Polk in the following letter dated 
January 2, 1858: 


Mapanm: 

Within a few days we have received three shipments 
of Cotton from your plantation, say 65, 30, and 20 bales — 
together 115. The market is so very unsatisfactory we are 
not disposed to offer it for sale now. We may err in hold- 
ing up but if so we shall err with good intentions. As yet 
we have samples of only the 65 bales in. This is beautiful 
Cotton and well ginned and handled. We do not know but 
think we could get a fraction over ten cents for it 

Should you have any instructions or suggestions to give 
on the subject please communicate them freely. To under- 


[ 256 | 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


take a prophecy as to the future course of the market would 
be folly in us as in times like these no reliable calculations 
can be made, but we incline to the Opinion that there is no 
danger in holding your Cotton. Since the publication of 
this morning’s Price Current (annexed) we have news of a 
further decline of half penny at Liverpool equal to about 
one cent per pound here 
Very Respectfully your servants 


February 6, 1858, the factors reported that they had sold 
the first shipment, 65 bales. The report was made in the 
following words: 

Mapam: 

We sold a few days since your first shipment of Cot- 
ton 65 bales @ 12% cts p lb. and shall deliver it either to- 
day or early next week. How shall we invest the proceeds? 
or shall we leave the amount subject to your draft? The 
later shipments fall short of this in quality, and at present 
we could not get over ten cents perhaps for it. We have 
Confidence in Cotton yet but did not feel justified in re- 
fusing 12% as it is only now and then we have an oppor- 
tunity of selling cotton at fancy prices. We sold to a buyer 
for France’ Very Respectfully 


Mrs. Polk, like many other people, did not understand 
bank exchange, then sold at discount or premium, and she 
mistook the language used by her factors in settling for the 
first sale of the cotton. Her letter of protest, based on this 
misunderstanding, brought forth the following reply, dated 
at New Orleans March 13, 1858: 


1 February 11, 1858, Perkins & Co. reported that the net proceeds of the sale of 
the 65 bales were $3,415.53. They added: “The market has further improved, not 
for this grade, but for the medium and lower descriptions and we now hope to make 
the remainder of your crop pay a good price also.” 


[ 257 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


Mapa 

We have just received yours of 6th Inst and regret 
to see that you are under a serious mistake as to the ex- 
change in which we remitted your proceeds of cotton sold. 
Understanding that you relied on us to make the best ex- 
changes we could we have felt more interest in the matter 
if possible than for our Customers generally. If you will 
take another look at the papers you will see that instead 
of losing you make $88.01 by the exchange, as you received 
a check at 3 per cent discount.. You may rest assured 
Madam that without special instructions we shall ever 
strive to promote your interests in all matters entrusted to 
us. 

No other sale of your cotton has been made and we begin 
to fear that we have held a little too long, but with con- 
tinued good news from Liverpool we had a right to expect 
an improvement instead of a decline here. 

Very Respectfully 

Exchange on Nashville now 114% dis. 


The remainder of Mrs. Polk’s crop of 1857 was sold a 
short time afterwards. The two letters following summed 
up the transactions and transmitted funds in settlement of 
them. The first, dated March 27, 1858, runs as follows: 


Mapam: 

We enclose account Sales of your last two shipments 
Cotton, 9+5 = 14 bales, netting $548.99 to cover which we 
enclose check on Bank Tennessee for $557.44 @ 114% dis 
— $8.45—[costing you ] $548.99. The best we can get Ten- 
nessee checks at is 144% dis from Mr. Allen Agent of the 
Bank of Tennessee. We can buy checks on New York at 


1 That cheque was for $2,933.89 and it was charged in the statement for $2,845.88 
which was at a discount of 3%. 
[ 258 | 


The Planter and his Commission Merchant 


about 4 or 34% dis., but this must not be better for you 
nor as good as we understand the Nashville rates for checks 
on New York. 

These 14 bales were the lowest of your crop and too full 
of dirt and dust to sell with the rest. We sold a few days 
ago the remainder 20+ 30=50 bales @ 1134 around and 
after its weighing and delivery will wait on you with sales 
and remittances Very truly 


The second letter, dated March 31, 1858, is the last of 
the series before me. It closes this review of the dealings of 
the owner of the Polk plantation in the following words: 


Mapam: 

Confirming previous advices we now wait on you 
with account sales of the balance of your crop, say 20 + 30 
= 50 bales’ netting $2,324 79—from which we deduct for 
Mr. Mairs $850 and invest the baiance say $1474.79 in the 
enclosed check on Bk. Tennessee for $1,497.25 @ 14% dis 
— $22.46, [costing you] $1474.79. 

What may be the future course of the market is uncertain. 
At present the tendency in Liverpool seems to be down- 
ward, the news by telegraph today being Yd decline there 
equal to a cent. We have thought it useless to wait for any 
further advances as we see nothing to justify the expecta- 
tion of any material improvement. We trust that our course 
will meet your approbation. 


Very Respectfully 


1 It is interesting to note that on these shipments the freight is charged at $1.15 a 
bale, whereas in other years it had been more than twice as high. 


[ 259 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


CHAPTER Xia 


The Lesson of the Letters 


ee oo" G } ROM 1833, when the first of these over- 
a in’ rs seer letters was written, to 1858, when the 

AG last was dated, was an even quarter of a 
} 


century. Through that period we have 
constantly under observation an economic 
unit of the Old South. There are a few 
years in peat the story breaks through failure of the let- 
ters, but there is no reason to believe that the omitted in- 
formation was materially unlike what has been preserved. 
It is safe to assume, therefore, that we have here a true and 
fairly complete panorama of life on the plantation, so far as 
it relates to the subjects dealt with in the letters. This 
record is not to be disputed in the things which it reveals. 
As for the things it does not take up, they are mostly the 
ordinary matters of daily life. For example, there is not a 
reference to the marriage of slaves in all the 275 letters that 
have come into my hands.’ Within this long period many 
such unions must have occurred on the plantation, but no 
overseer thought it worth his while to mention one. Also, 
there may have been divorces or separations of husband 
and wife. The letters contain no suggestion of such oc- 
currences. The overseer wrote about the things that he 


thought the owner ought to know. He doubtless assumed 
that Polk had no concern with a negro marriage or a negro 


1 Of the letters copied from the Polk correspondence that might have been used in 
this book, 84 were rejected because they were repetitions or unimportant. Of course 
this aggregate includes many letters not written by overseers as these pages show. 


[ 260 | 


The Lesson of the Letters 


divorce. Runaways were more to the purpose. His letters, 
therefore, said nothing about a large area of conduct that 
was intimately connected with the life of the slaves. 

An expert in osteology will look at a fragment of a skele- 
ton and reconstruct the whole of it. If a given part is thus 
and so the remainder is thus and so. It is like that with the 

vidence in these letters. They show us a fragment of plan- 
ae life. That fragment indicates the contour of the part 
that is omitted. It is of rugged shape and angular. It 
would not fit in with the very graceful contour that the ro- 
mancers have given to the slave life of the past. I conclude, 
therefore, that the pictures drawn by the romancers are not 
\true pictures of the life actually lived on the plantations. 

What things are here indicated by the undeniable frag- 
ment of plantation life which we find in the letters? And 
that much ascertained what can be deduced from it about 
the general nature of such life? The question challenges the 
reader who will perhaps have his own peculiar reply. To 
me the following observations seem warranted: 

In the first place we may consider the buildings in which 
the people lived. On this plantation on which the master 
did not live there was no “great house,” or planter’s resi- 
dence. The buildings consisted of the overseer’s house, a 
plain structure, no doubt, as overseers’ houses were. It 

rarely had more than three rooms. Next were the slave 
cabins of one or two rooms. Besides these were the barns, 
the stables, the sheds for the carts and wagons, the shuck 
pens, which might or might not have roofs over them, and 
the gin-house with the tall armed cotton screw by its side. 

Originally these buildings must have been built of logs 
taken from the place. The character of the buildings may 
be seen from the time it took to construct them. Writing 


[ 261 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


to Polk January 10, 1835, Dr. Caldwell said that he re- 
mained on the place after taking the overseer and negroes 
to it for eighteen days and in that time he “put up a house 
for Beanland four Houses for the negroes a Smokehouse 
and a kitchen and made a lot for our stock.” His statement 
of expenses is definite enough to show that he did not buy 
-any sawn lumber, and he had with him no slaves who could 
be classed as carpenters. The work was doubtless done with 
the axes of the negroes directed by the doctor and Beanland. 
Boards may have been split for the roofs and floors and the 
chimneys were probably made of sticks daubed heavily with 
clay in the frontier fashion. The slave group consisted of 
eighteen men, ten women, seven children, and two boys who 
seem to have been about half grown, in all thirty-seven 
people crowded into four houses. Doubtless other houses 
\were soon built for the slave residences, it being the prac- 
tice on plantations to allow one cabin io: each slave family. 
The trivial character of the buildings on the plantation is 
shown in the fact that a few years later, 1840, all these 
buildings were abandoned and others built in what was 
considered a more healthy situation. If one would try to 
imagine the life lived here he must place it in very simple 
homes. 

Over this grouping of building and its inhabitants pre- 
sided the overseer. The letters show us what kind of man 
he was. His education was very meagre. Of the facts one 
gets from reading books he had a scant supply. His stock 
of ideas was acquired in the experience of a workaday world, 
his own world of hard knocks. Negroes, cotton, the uncer- 

‘tainty of the seasons, and the routine of planting, cultivat- 
ing, and harvesting made up his body of rules. He worked 
the slaves as regularly as he could, putting them at their 


[ 262 ] 


The Lesson of the Letters 


tasks and keeping them there until the day was at an end. 
Of the humanizing side of labor he knew little. Slave labor 
could not be humanized from his point of view. To lift up 
the slave was to make him dissatisfied with slavery. To 
make him accept slavery and to work because he was told 
to work was the overseer’s idea. 

The béte noire of the overseer was the runaway slave. 
The letters show that there were always slaves who rebelled 
at the idea of bondage. Jack, Ben, Hardy, Gilbert, Har- 
bart, Charles and Addison and those whom they influenced 
to follow their example represented this spirit of revolt. 

| Caught and brought back to the plantation they took the 
\\ whipping that was a matter of course and waited an oppor- 
tunity for another flight. It always came, sooner or later. 
For them life was one attempt after another to escape, not 
to the land of freedom in the North, for they were too far 
away from the border line of slavery and freedom to think 
of that. They ran away merely to escape for the time from 
the hand of the overseer. A month in the woods, a brief 
sojourn in Tennessee, whence they came to Mississippi, was 
all they could expect. For this they underwent the arrest, 
the imprisonment in a jail, the journey in irons back to the 
plantation cabins and the punishment that awaited them. 
And for all their trouble they got only a brief respite from 
labor. None of the punishments seem to have broken their 
‘spirits or made them accept quietly the life of the slave. 
The letters also show what were the problems of disci- 
pline. We cannot read them without seeing how necessary 
it was that the managers of the plantation should have the 
authority that every director of labor must have if he is to 
make a success of the business entrusted to him. Beanland 
and Dismukes alike have our assent when they say that the 


[ 263 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


runaways must be sent back if discipline on the plantation 
is to be maintained. It was not so much that the overseer 
was hard but that the system he was set to administer was 
hard. 

We must not forget, also, that an important part of the 
problem was the negro himself. A fundamental part of the 
slave problem was the negro problem. The African slaves 
were close to savagery. They were to learn much in the proc- 
ess of forced labor and they learned it very slowly. The 
finer feelings of advanced peoples were not for them. They 
had not developed such feelings in Africa—they could 
not be expected to acquire them in American slavery in 
one, two, or five generations. For them uplift was a thing. 
that could only come gradually and painfully. The first 
generations died in order that those who came afterwards 
might make a slow and meagre advance in culture. 

Of course there were exceptions among the slaves. In 
the letters here submitted to the reader we have a view of 
one only of this class, the blacksmith Harry. There 
may have been others, but we do not find trace of them. 
But Harry presents himself to our view as a man of great 
faithfulness. For thirty years and a half, he tells us, he had 
stood over the anvil. He had hammered out the tools with 
which his companions in slavery had dug riches out of the 
soil for the benefit of the master. Eleven children had he 
given to his owner, he and his wife, all representing wealth 
and the power to create more wealth. He did not rebel 
. against his lot. To Polk he sent his loyal respect, to his old 
' mistress he sent the cheering words, “Yours till death.” Few 
men could offer a richer tribute. Slavery gave him the op- 
portunity of manifesting an admirable spirit of fai ess. 


On the other hand is Eva, whom the overseers persistent- 


[ 264 ] 


The Lesson of the Letters 


ly called “Evy.” We are not told in any letter who was her 
husband but it is well established that she was a fertile 
breeder. She was not able to raise her children. The over- 
seer said that she did not have any luck in rearing or in 
keeping her offspring alive. What they died of we are not 
told. The statement is quite bare: Evy’s child died last 
week or last night, that is all. But we may judge that a 
controlling cause was her inefficiency in taking care of 
them. Perhaps she did not feel much interest in their 
health. They were not hers, but her Master’s. Why should 
.. she be interested in taking care of master’s negroes? Here 
ae mother love at a low ebb. Here was the inability to 
realize what was good for the child. Fortunately not all 
slave women were indifferent on this point. 
Another thing about these letters that seems significant 
- is the infrequent mention of deaths among the adult slaves. 
It has often been asserted that slaves were worked so hard 
in the Gulf State that they died rapidly, the master consol- 
ing himself that it was more profitable to work them hard 
and replace by purchase. It has also been said that this 
habit was especially pronounced on plantations under the 
sole control of overseers. If the assertion were well founded 
it ought to be supported by occurrences on Polk’s Missis- 
sippi plantation. So far as the evidence in the letters here 
printed goes the assertion is erroneous. Deaths of infant 
slaves were common. In all the letters running from 1835 
to 1858 there is mention of very few deaths of adult slaves. 
In fact, a larger proportion of the overseers died on the 
plantation than of the slaves. 
Two facts should, however, be mentioned as serving to 
modify the weight of my statement. One is the incomplete- 
ness of the series of letters. It is possible that more adult 


[ 265 | 


The Plantation Overseer 


slaves died and that the overseer reported the deaths to the 
employer in letters not now preserved. On the other hand, 
the gaps in the correspondence are long, the longest being 
’ for the four years of Polk’s service as president of the United 
States. And by the same token there are long periods dur- 
ing which the letters preserved are fairly complete. By the 
law of probability we may expect that the condition affect- 
ing life and death would be the same for the first of these 
periods as for the second. On that basis it is safe to say that 
the death rate of adults on the plantation was low. 

Another thing bearing on the argument 1s the fact that 
the group of men and women taken to the plantation in 
1835 was composed of young and healthy slaves, selected 
for the purpose. Undoubtedly such persons could be ex- 
pected to have a low death rate. That is what could have 
been expected and that is what resulted. But the argument 
against which I am protesting is that the slaves were worked 
so hard that they broke down and died, and if it were true 
we might expect that Polk’s slaves would have broken down 
whether young people or not. The argument had it that the 
work was severe enough to break the strength of young and 
strong men. As to old or weak workingmen, a large per 
cent. of them continually break down in free labor. 

To support the old assertion attention was called to the 
steady carrying of slaves into the gulf region from the older 
parts of the South. It was said that they went to replace 
those whom slavery had killed by hard labor. That there 
was a constant movement of slaves from the upper to the 
lower section of the South is undoubted; but it is sufficient- 
ly explained by the enlargement of the arable acreage in 
that region. Occurrences on Polk’s plantation amply bear 
out this assertion. In 1839 the cleared land amounted to 


[ 266 | 


The Lesson of the Letters 


271 acres, in 1842 it was 374 acres and in 1851 it was 566 
acres. To cultivate this enlarged area required more slaves 
than could be supplied by the growing of young slaves into 
the age for working on the fields. What was happening on 
Polk’s plantation was happening on a great many others. 

Moreover, during the period covered by these letters there 
was in this part of the South a constant enlargement of the 
cultivated area through the taking up of land from the state. 
After the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek Indians sur- 
rendered their ample lands in 1830, 1832, and 1833 respec- 
tively and moved to the region which became known as 
Indian Territory, the lands they had formerly occupied 
were put on the market. The best were seized on quickly. 
The patents for Polk’s plantation, which he bought from 
the patentee, were dated October 31, 1833, and it was only 
a year and one month later that Polk paid ten dollars an 
acre for the land. After the first years of enthusiasm in 
which the best land was taken up there remained a large 
amount of less fertile ungranted land which came more 
slowly into private hands. As it was taken up gradually 
through the next twenty-five years there was an enlarging 
demand for slaves to work it. Probably it would not be as 
vigorous a demand as the size of the newly granted acreage 
would seem to imply ; for the poorer land fell to the poorer 
men who did not use slaves to the same extent as the large 
planters. But they used a certain number and as they 
prospered they were sure to buy more slaves. 

To recapitulate, these letters tend to show that slaves 
did not die in the far South through overwork, and 
they seem to indicate that there was enough progressive en- 
largement of the cleared areas on the first plantations to 
account for a large part of the migration of slaves to this 


[ 267 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


region. We may add that through a large part of our period 
the entire arable region was being steadily enlarged through 
the patenting of less fertile lands and enlarging the cleared 
land on the farms already existing. It should not be for- 
gotten that in 1860 a large portion of the gulf states were 
as near the beginning of their frontier as Ohio in 1810. 

The letters throw some light on the profitableness of the 
operations on the plantation. They show what was the 
ordinary return from a plantation that cost $8,800 in 1834, 
with slaves then valued at about $16,000 — a total of say 
$25,000. In good years and bad this place returned the 
owners from $3,500 to $6,300 above cost of operations. 
When it was sold in 1860 it brought, according to report, 
$30,000 for the land and such slaves as were not otherwise 
disposed of. Unfortunately we do not know how many 
slaves Polk bought for the plantation, how many Dr. Cald- 
well withdrew of his original stock, and how many of those 
who had been sent there and born there had been taken off 
by 1860. On the face of things it seems that the place paid, 
even as a non-resident plantation. 

These letters tell something, not as much as we wish, 
of the kind of clothing worn by the slaves. They do not 
describe it with attention to detail, but they give us some 
data from which to argue. They enable us to talk about the 
subject in specific terms, which is much better than the old 
habit of sweeping the subject aside and saying that the 
clothing was issued regularly and was adequate. 

When he owned the Fayette County, Tennessee, planta- 
tion Polk spoke of sending the “negro cloth” to that place 
from Columbia. He did not say how much, nor what kind. 
He said nothing about shoes and hats. But he had an ac- 
count with one of the stores in Somerville and it is likely 


[ 268 | 


The Lesson of the Letters 


that he bought at this store what he thought the slaves 
needed beyond the “negro cloth,” which he sent from Co- 
lumbia, because it was cheaper in that town. 

__/As for the Mississippi plantation, there is nothing in the 

“letters of the overseer or of the New Orleans factors to show 
that he had any considerable account at the local stores. 
The returns of the factors account for the disposition of the 
proceeds from the sale of the cotton. None of this sum 
went to Mississippi to pay any other account than the wages 
of the overseer. There was mention of a small account at 
the store in Coffeeville, but it was usually paid out of such 
sums as the overseer might have received from the sale of 
surplus corn, the money received from Harry’s blacksmith- 
ing, or other small business. It does not seem possible that 
Polk bought in this way any considerable amount of cloth- 
ing, for in the bill he made at the store must have been in- 
cluded such things as coffee, sugar, and flour for the sick 
slaves, occasional new harness, and other little things 
needed on a plantation. When we have glimpses of the bill 
it does not run beyond two hundred dollars a year.’ 

Every spring, however, the factor bought in New Orleans 
what came to be called “the supplies for the plantation” 
and sent them up the river while the water was high. We 
know that no other supplies were sent up but this spring 
shipment, for there is no mention of them in the letters and 
the accounts of the factors are silent about any shipment 
but the one made in the spring. By a process of elimination 
we have, therefore, made it seem likely that besides the 
clothing worn and made upon the place the main portions 
of the clothing furnished the slaves on Polk’s plantation 


1 The year Polk broke up his place near Somerville to move to Mississippi, Dr. 
Caldwell paid his bill at a local store and it amounted to $170. (See above, Caldwell 
to Polk, February 10, 1835). 


[ 269 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


was those included in the spring shipment of “supplies for 
the plantation.” Many of the invoices of these articles are 
preserved in the Polk correspondence and some are given 
in these letters. Here is one that is typical, reproduced in 
its entirety... It is dated March 15, 1856, and is as follows: 


1224 yds Ky. bagging @ 18 2.20.32 
1438 ” Rope @ 9% 136.61 
15lbs Twine @ 18 2.70 
359.63 

drayage — 75 
360.38 

3 doz shoes — Russets — %4o 8% 1%01% 1% 1% @I17.50 52.50 
3 doz Compeachy hats @ $2.50 7.50 
drayage -25 

| $60.25 

25 prs. heavy grey Blankets @ 3.00 75.00 
drayage & bale 75 

$75.75 

6 bars iron—328 lbs.@ 5. cts 16.40 
3° slabse 74) Ni @40re pone 20.88 
1 BundleSteel 50 ” @11% ” IAG, 
drayage 25 

43.28 

16 Sacks Co. salt @ 1.05 16.80 


Out of this invoice the only articles that can be described 
as clothing are the shoes and “Campeachy hats.” The hats 
cost twenty and five-sixths cents each. The shoes cost one 
dollar and forty-five and five-sixths cents a pair. For these 
articles of clothing, all that are in the invoice, Mrs. Polk 

1 See also Mairs to Mrs. Polk, February 10, 1851, above p. 189. 


[ 270] 


The Lesson of the Letters 


paid $60.25. The shoes were “Russets”—in some of the 
invoices they are called “Men’s Russet Oak Tand. Bro- 
gans.” The meaning was that they were made of leather 
that had not been blackened. The term “brogan,” widely 
used in the Old South, indicated a heavy and stout work 
shoe cut low but slightly higher than the modern “Oxford,” 
vary hard and clumsy. It is interesting to note the sizes. 
There were ten pairs of sevens, two pairs of eights, and two 
pairs of nines —these probably for the women — and there 
were ten pairs of tens, three pairs of elevens, three pairs of 
twelves, and six pairs of thirteens—for the men. They 
were probably ordered a little large, since it was not safe in 
ordering at such a distance to try for an exact fit. It was 
the general custom for men and women to go barefoot in 
warm weather. As nothing is said here about shoes for the 
children it may have been that they were expected to go 
barefoot all the year. It may have been, however, that the 
children were supplied from a local store where they could 
be fitted more successfully than in a distant market. Inone 
of the letters the overseer speaks of getting shoes made by a 
local cobbler, but it is not clear whether the usual order 
went to New Orleans that year or not. 

On the Mississippi plantation, after it became well es- 
tablished, Mariah was taught to weave and from that time 
on the cloth was made on the plantation that went into the 
negro clothing. As no sheep were mentioned as raised on 
the place I infer that the cloth was cotton, or mostly so. It 
was probably heavy for coats and trousers and lighter for 
shirts and the clothing of the women. The clothes were 
made up by the women on the place. There is nothing to 
show how many times a year the clothing was issued. The 
children, male and female, probably followed the custom 


[ 271 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


common everywhere to dress negro children in a single gar- 
ment, a long shirt made of white cotton cloth. 

In the invoice given above appears an item referring to 
blankets. These articles were not distributed every year. 
The price indicates that a good quality was ordered. How 
long the slaves made them last we do not know. The in- 
voices are not regular enough to make a deduction from the 
frequency with which blankets appear in them. Of the ar- 
rival of these blankets at the plantation Mairs had the fol- 
lowing to say in a letter to Major John W. Childress dated 
May 6, 1856: 

“Mrs. Polk surplys has got oup safe all to 6 blankets that 
is 3 par we got 23 par that is 46 Blankets iunderstode 
you to say you ordered 52 blankets iwent with the wagons 
and come home with them the botehands mus have got 
them iexamed the bal the ware in but dyed not discover it 
had been opened think the beter way hear after is to put 
them in a box we will be more apter to tell if it has bin 
opeined.” 

In this connection I offer the following letter from Frank ~ 
L. Fowler to Mrs. Polk relating to the clothing of slaves 
hired by the year. The writer seems to have been Mrs. 
Polk’s business adviser. The letter is without place or date, 
but it was probably written in Nashville in the fifties. It 
runs as follows: : 


“Mrs. Pork: 

The custom of hiring negroes by the year is that you 
furnish them with such clothing as they may require. You 
can be the better Judge of the number of prs. Shoes neces- 
sary. in regard to the Taxes and Medical Bills it is allways 
the custom when you hire a servant to pay all expences that 


[ 272 ] 


The Lesson of the Letters 


may occur. I was engaged this morning and asked Mr. 
Boyd to send you the notes. he misunderstood me and 
sent you four notes to sign requiring a payment in advance 
I hope the notes I have drawn will meet with your appro- 
bation and this will be an apology sufficient for the mistake. 
Iam 

Yours very Respectfully.” 


It is evident that neither of the overseers on the Polk 
\, plantation thought it worth while to write about the religious 
“or moral instruction of the slaves ; and it is noteworthy that 
in all their letters no incident is mentioned that gives us 
any evidence that such a thing as religious instruction ex- 
isted on the-plantation. It might have existed without di- 
rect reports on it. But it is not likely that it could have ex- 
isted for twenty-five years without mention of some occur- 
rence which had a connection with religion on the place. 
No doubt the slaves fared better when the master was 
himself resident on the plantation, or lived so close that he 
visited it frequently. The reader should be warned that he 
should not judge slavery as a whole by what he finds under 
the régime of a non-resident master. And it is true that 
non-residence was most found in the gulf region in the early 
days of its settlement. As time passed it became more evi- 
dent that it did not pay to conduct farming at such a dis- 
tance from the owner of the land, and the non-resident type 
of plantation receded as the owners sold one by one, as 
Mrs. Polk finally sold, to men who lived nearer at hand. 
The master-directed plantation was more typical, and in 
making an estimate of slavery we should have this type in 
mind. But the situation on a non-resident plantation was 
not so far different from the situation on the other kind 


[ 273 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


that it can be ignored. The difference was largely in the 
moral oversight of the slaves and the exercise of a greater 
degree of humanity by the master, due to his superior in- 
terest in the higher forms of living. 

Finally, we must not form the conclusion that the 
overseer was cruel or stupid because he was illiterate. 
Neither of the men whose thoughts are depicted here in 
their letters deserve to be called cruel or stupid. They were 
men of common sense and intelligence. So far as the let- 
ters show they were not pronounced cruel by the slaves in 
any other sense than that they punished severely, mostly 
for running away. One was accused of failing to encourage 
the slaves for good work, but it was evidently the idea of an 
aggrieved runaway who found it necessary to have an ex- 
cuse. Another drank too much, and more than one had too 
much company. But by the men of the day these would 
have been considered minor faults in anyone other than an 
overseer. 

The overseer’s inherent fault was that he took a low idea 
of slavery. He did not see in the situation before him any 
suggestion that these stupid people under him could be im- 
proved. To him the thing to do was to have obedience, to 
get work done, and to keep the slaves in health and strength. 
These ends were to be accomplished by the exercise of will 
over the volition of the slaves. It was a thing natural to the 
times and the environment. The overseer was a develop- 
ment and a destiny. He and his place came out of the so- 
cial necessities of a rural people who were trying to carry 
on the institution of slavery, making it work with the unde- 
veloped African. As he had so large a part in directing the 
course of slave life he was in a position to determine to a 
large extent the destiny of its future. It was a vast power 


[ 274 ] 


The Lesson of the Letters 


in the hands of a man who was not likely to use it with en- 
lightenment. Slavery made him what he was and he used 
his best efforts to make slavery continue what it was. 

Did slavery pay? This question has not been answered 
to the satisfaction of all. The experience of Mrs. Polk and 
her husband has some value as bearing on the matter. The 
records in the court house at Coffeeville contain this entry 


(filed February 18, 1860): 


“Mrs. Sarah Polk, Nashville, Tenn., to Jas. M. Avant, 
Rutherford County, Tenn., for $30,000, one-half of my es- 
tate in Yalobusha County, Miss. (Sec. 28 and N. % 33), 
consisting of 960 acres of land in one body and embracing 
a section and one-half section together with one other small 
tract of land containing 155 acres being near the above de- 
scribed tract of 960 acres, it being the tract conveyed to me 
by John A. Mairs on 2oth of February, 1854, known as N. 
E. % Sec. 20-24-5 E. Converting also the following slaves 
to wit: Pompey, Harry, Allen, Gilbert, Phillip, Addison, 
Garry, Giles, Perry, Manuel, Joe,* Alphonso, Billy, Wilson, 
Jason, Jim, Andy,* Jerry, Anderson, Turner, Lewis, Julius, 
Davy, Clay, Mariner, Evy, Betsy, Mary, Caroline, Daphny, 
Manah, Rosetta, Caroline, Jane, Malinda, Sally, Angeline, 
John, George, Willis, Paul, Edward, Henry, Osbourn, Jack, 
Ted, Daniel, Little Manuel, Ananias, Ary, Carter, Lilly, 
Violet, Louisa, Susan, and Eliza, 56 in number.” 


\/ For the original tract Polk and Caldwell paid $8,800, but 
it does not appear what was paid for the “small tract” of 155 
acres bought from Mairs. On the original purchase the 
owners placed thirty-six slaves, valued at $16,050. Polk 
bought several others at later times, but it is not clear that 
he was not merely replacing slaves withdrawn by Caldwell 


[ 275 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


when he sold his share, or by William H. Polk, when he sold 
out. At any rate, the plantation slaves increased in twenty- 
five years from 36 to 56, mostly through births. The price 
received for the half of the estate does not represent its 
value when sold under favorable circumstances. Mrs. Polk 
was in no position to get the best returns for the property, 
nor to sell it to an advantage, by virtue of her sex and her 
non-residence. Making reasonable allowances on these 
grounds, I am of opinion that the estate was a good invest- 
ment. 


[ 276 ] 


The Plantation Overseer 


INDEX 


Achlen, Joseph A. S., 23, note 1. 
Acreage cultivated on the Mississippi 
plantation, 194. 


Beanland, Ephraim, 39; Overseer for 
Polk, 39; goes to Mississippi, 40, 147; 
struggle for supremacy, 52-68; to Polk, 
Dec. 22, 1833, 53; statement of cost of 
recovering Jack, 59; to Polk, Feb. 1, 
1834, 61; to James Walker, Feb. 6, 
1834, 63; to Polk, Feb. 13, 1834, 64; 
to Polk, March 7, 1834, 65; to Polk, 
April 1, 1834, 67; ability as a farmer 
attested by Dr. Caldwell, 69; success 
in Tennessee, 70; to Polk, May 1, 1834, 
71; to Polk, June 1, 1834, 72; to Polk, 
July 1, 1834, 73; his brother, 74; to 
Polk, Aug. 3, 1834, 74; to Polk, Aug. 
24, 1834, 76; to go to Mississippi, 76, 
77; starts for Arkansas for Jack, 78; to 
Polk, Oct. 4, 1834, 79; to Polk, Oct. 
10, 1834, 80; to Polk, Oct. 14, 1834, 
82; to Polk, Oct. 26, 1834, 83; dis- 
charged, 89; to Polk, Jan. 23, 1836, 
90; to Polk, April 12, 1841, 91; his later 
career, 92. 

Bell, S., to Polk, July 7, 1839, 121. 

Bills, John H., to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 28, 
1852, 197. 

Birth of slave children on the Mississippi 
plantation, 205. 

Bobbitt, Major William, to Polk, July 
16, 1841, 152; to Polk, Aug. 29, 1841, 
156. 

Bratton, G. W., employed for Polk, 104, 
106, 107; overseership of, 105-124; 
McNeal on, 111; his capacity, 112; to 
Polk, May 13, 1837, 113; to Polk, 
Sept. 13, 1838, 113; to Polk, Nov. 24, 
1838, 114; to Polk, Dec. 24, 1838, 115; 


to Polk, Jan. 25, 1839, 117; to Polk, 
March 13, 1839, 118; to Polk, May 31, 
1839, 119; to Polk, June 4, 1839, 119; 
death of, 120-123. 

Brown, James, 41, 42, 50; to Polk, Nov. 
4, 1834, 41. 


Caldwell, Dr. Silas M., 36, 52; his Ten- 
nessee farm, 38, 39; in the Mississippi 
venture, 40; visits Mississippi to buy 
land, 42; to Polk, Jan. 2, 1835, 43; to 
Polk, Feb. 13, 1835, 46; his energy, 48; 
to Polk, Feb. 10, 1835, 49; to Polk, 
Jan. 4, 1834, 57; to Polk, March 18, 
1834, 69; furnishes corn to Polk, 72; 
supervisor of the Mississippi planta- 
tion, 88; to Polk, Jan. 16, 1836, 88; 
his settlement with Beanland, 89; em- 
ploys Mayo, 89, 93; to Polk, Jan. 11, 
1836, 94; to Polk, Feb. 7, 1836, 953 
his partnership with Polk, 97; with- 
drawal from, 98-101; to Polk, Feb. 22, 
1836, 98; to Polk, April 28, 1836, 99; 
to Polk, Nov. 11, 1836, 101; to Polk, 
Oct. 20, 1840, 145; to Polk, July 23, 
1841, 153. 

Caldwell, Mrs. Silas M., 51; to Polk, 
Aug. 23, 1841, 155. 

Caldwell, Samuel P., to Polk, May 21, 
1844, 172. 

Campbell, Robert, Jr., Mrs. Polk’s agent, 
177. 

Caruthers, Harris & Co., to Polk, June 
8, 1838, 226. 

Chickasaw lands sold, 41. 

Childress, Major John W., agent for Mrs. 
Polk, 191. 

Commission Merchant, the Planter and 
his, 221-259; not to be avoided, 225. 


[ 277 ] 


Index 


Cooper, M. D. & Co., to Polk, Feb. 12, 
1839, 118. 

Cotton, selling, 224; expenses of selling, 
227, n. I, 235; prices and grades, 232, 
234; excellent quality of Mrs. Polk’s, 
233, 234; Mrs. Polk’s burned at Troy, 
240; insurance of gin-house, 255. 

Cowan, James, to Polk, July 2, 1839, 120. 

Curry, James S., 34. 


Dismukes, Isaac H., becomes overseer 
for Polk, 147; his discharge, 147; to 
Polk, Jan. 21, 1841, 148; to Polk, Feb. 
I, 1841, 149; to Polk, March 9, 1841, 
150; to Polk, April 1, 1841, 151; to 
Polk, April 5, 1841, 152; to Polk, Aug. 
2, 1841, 154; to Polk, Sept. 1, 1841, 
157; to Polk, Sept. 17, 1841, 159; to 
Polk, Feb. 1, 1842, 160; to Polk, May 
17, 1842, 163; to Polk, June 1, 1842, 
163; to Polk, June 26, 1842, 164; to 
Polk, Aug. 16, 1842, 164; to Polk, 
Sept. 13, 1842, 165; Leigh’s testimony 
in regard to Dismukes’ crop, 167; to 
Polk, Oct. 4, 1842, 168; to Polk, Oct. 
12, 1842, 169; to Polk, Dec. 25, 1842, 
170; to Polk, Jan. 14, 1843, 171; to 
Polk, Jan. 26, 1843, 172; end of his 
overseership, 172, 174; buys a slave, 
173. 


“Floats,” 37, 46. 


Gaines, Francis P., 10, n. 1. 

Garner, John I., employed as overseer, 
112; his overseership, 125-147; to Polk, 
Sept. 10, 1839, 125; to Polk, Nov. 3, 
1839, 128; to Polk, Nov. 23, 1839, 129; 
to Polk, Dec. 11, 1839, 134; to Polk, 
Dec. 25, 1839, 130; to Polk, March 2, 
1840, 138; to Polk, May 3, 1840, 138; 
to Polk, June 1, 1840, 139; to Polk, 
June 7, 1840, 140; to Polk, July 5, 
1840, 142; to Polk, Oct. 4, 1840, 144; 
to Polk, Oct. 1, 1840, 145; end of his 
correspondence, 147. 


Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, 14. 

Graham, Major Daniel, agent for Mrs. 
Polk, 187, 188, 191. 

Greenfield, G. T., buying slaves, 85. 


Hammond, James H., 5. 

Harris, A. O., 37, 52; to Polk, Dec. 30, 
1833, 55; to Polk, Jan. 3, 1834, 56. 

Harry, 137, 162, 210; to Polk, May 10, 
1842, 161, 264. 


Infant mortality, 265. 
Jones, George, 33, 34. 


Lane, Lunsford, 14. 
Leigh, J. T., to Polk, Aug. 13, 1839, 122; 
to Polk, Sept. 28, 1842, 167. 


McNeal, A. F., to Polk, June 15, 1838, 
111; to Polk, Jan. 15, 1840, 135. 

Mairs, John A., appointed overseer, 176; 
length of overseership, 176; his salary, 
178; to Mrs. Polk, Aug. 19, 1849, 178; 
to Mrs. Polk, Sept. 20, 1849, 178; to 
Mrs. Polk, Oct. 29, 1849, 179; to Mrs. 
Polk, Jan. 12, 1850, 180; to Mrs. Polk, 
Feb. 1, 1850, 181; to Mrs. Polk, March 
15, 1850, 181; to Mrs. Polk, Apri! 12, 
1850, 182; to Mrs. Polk, May 6, 1850, 
183; to Mrs. Polk, June 7, 1850, 183; 
to Mrs. Polk, July 6, 1850, 184; to 
Mrs. Polk, Aug. 10, 1850, 185; to Mrs. 
Polk, Sept. 8, 1850, 186; to Mrs. Polk, 
Oct. 8, 1850, 186; to Mrs. Polk, Nov. 
6, 1850, 187; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 13, 
1851, 188; to Mrs. Polk, Feb. 10, 1851, 
189; to Mrs. Polk, March 5, 1851, 189; 
to Mrs. Polk, March 18, 1851, 191; 
to Mrs. Polk, April 16, 1851, 192; to 
Mrs. Polk, July 25, 1851, 194; to Mrs. 
Polk, Sept. 29, 1851, 195; to Mrs. Polk, 
Jan. 26, 1851, 195; to Mrs. Polk, April 
3, 1852, 197; to Mrs. Polk, April 24, 
1852, 198; to Mrs. Polk, Aug. 18, 1852, 
199; to Mrs. Polk, Sept. 20, 1852, 200; 


[ 278 |] 


Index 


to Mrs. Polk, Dec. 21, 1852, 201; to 
Mrs. Polk, March 3, 1853, 202; to Mrs. 
Polk, April 18, 1853, 202; to Mrs. 
Polk, June 10, 1853, 203; to Mrs. Polk, 
July 9, 1853, 204; to Mrs. Polk, Aug. 
16, 1853, 205; to Mrs. Polk, Oct. 15, 
1853, 206; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 10, 1854, 
207; to Mrs. Polk, July 6, 1854, 208; 
to Mrs. Polk, Sept. 3, 1854, 208; to 
Mrs. Polk, May 12, 1855, 209; to Mrs. 
Polk, June 17, 1855, 210; to Mrs. Polk, 
Aug. 29, 1855, 211; to Mrs. Polk, Sept. 
7eotss5, 202; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 7, 
1856, 212; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 23, 1856, 
213; to Mrs. Polk, Feb. 23, 1856, 214; 
to Mrs. Polk, April 23, 1856, 215; to 
Mrs. Polk, Sept. 13, 1856, 215; to Mrs. 
Polk, Sept. 14, 1856, 216; to Mrs. Polk, 
Feb. 12, 1857, 217; to Mrs. Polk, April 
15, 1857, 2187 to Mrs. Polk, May 11, 
1857, 218; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 15, 1858, 
219. 

Marriage and divorce of slaves, 17, 260. 

Mayo, overseer in Mississippi, 89, 93, 95, 
99. 

Meek, G. W., to Polk, Aug. 24, 1839, 123. 

Memphis, Tenn., as a cotton market, 253. 

Moore, George, to Polk, Jan. 10, 1837, 
103; opinion of W. H. Polk, 103, 108. 


Negro, the effects of slavery on him, 21. 
See the Overseer. 
New Orleans factorage, 223. 


‘Overseer, the, services of, 1; social posi- 
tion of, 2, 8; relations with his em- 
ployer, 2; origin of, 3; not liked by 
slaves, 3; daily routine of, 3, 12; his 
education neglected, 4, 262; duties of, 
5, 11-22, 24-32; salary of, 6; future 
career of, 6; vices of, 7; character of 
his letters, 9; his strength of character, 
9; in fiction, 9; his care for slaves and 
stock, 11; as a force for uplift, 13; a 
judge for the slaves, 15; inflicts pun- 


ishment, 16, 263; and marriages of 
slaves, 17, 19; and the runaways, 18; 
and the birth of slave children, 20; 
what he taught the slaves, 22; the con- 
tract of, 23-34. 


Panic of 1837, 135. 

Paper currency, 136, n. I. 

Perkins & Co., to Mrs. Polk, Oct. 13, 
1857, 254; to Mrs. Polk, Dec. 4, 1857, 
255; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 2, 1858, 256; 
to Mrs. Polk, Feb. 6, 1858, 257; to 

Mrs. Polk, March 13, 1858, 257; to 

Mrs. Polk, March 27, 1858, 258; to 

Mrs. Polk, March 31, 1858, 259. 

Perkins, Campbell & Co., statement to 

Mrs. Polk about burnt cotton, 242. 

Phillips, Ulrich B., 5, 11, 18, 23, n. 1. 

Pickett. Macmurdo & Co., to Mrs. Polk, 

March 1, 1854, 237; to Mrs. Polk, May 
22, 1854, 238; to Mrs. Polk, June 23, 
1854, 239; to Mrs. Polk, March 7, 1855, 
240; to Mrs. Polk, March 20, 1855, 241. 

Pickett, Perkins & Co., to Mrs. Polk, 
Jan. 3, 1850, 229; to Mrs. Polk, March 
8, 1851, 229; to Mrs. Polk, March 17, 
1851, 230; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 5, 1852, 
231; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 30, 1852, 232; 
to Mrs. Polk, Dec. 13, 1852, 234; to 
Mrs. Polk, March 5, 1853, 236. 

Pickett, W. S., to Mrs. Polk, March 17, 
1851, 230; to Mrs. Polk, Feb. 3, 1854, 
237; to Mrs. Polk, March 7, 1855, 240; 
to Mrs. Polk, March 20, 1855, 241; to 
Mrs. Polk, April 25, 1855, 242; to Mrs. 
Polk, June 23, 1854, 1839; to Mrs. 
Polk, Nov. 22, 1855, 243; to Mrs. Polk, 
Dec. —, 1855, 244; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 
3, 1856, 245; to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 12, 
1856, 246; moves to Memphis, 252; to 
Mrs. Polk, July 7, 1857, 253; to Mrs. 
Polk, Jan. 29, 1858, 253. 

Pickett, W. S. & Co., to Polk, Dec. 31, 
1844, 226; to Polk, Feb. 3, 1845, 227; 
to Mrs. Polk, Jan. 12, 1856, 246; to 


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Index 


Mrs. Polk, Nov. 5, 1856, 248; to Mrs. 
Polk, Dec. 24, 1856, 248; to Mrs. Polk, 
Jan. 21, 1857, 249; to Mrs. Polk, Feb. 
5, 1857, 250; to Mrs. Polk, Feb. 14, 
1857, 250; to Mrs. Polk, March 9, 1857, 
251; to Mrs, Polk, March 12, 1857, 
252. 

Plantation, life on the, 9; see Overseers. 

Planter, the, position, 1-3; on plantation 
management, 11; on plantation morals, 
13. 

Polk, Col. Thomas, 35. 

Polk, Ezekiel, 35, 36. 

Polk, James K., his plantation in Ten- 
nessee, 35-40; his ancestry, 35; pur- 
chase of Mississippi lands, 75; sells 
Tennessee plantation, 77; to his wife, 
Sept. 26, 1834, 77; removal to Mis- 
sissippi, 81; partnership with Dr. Cald- 
well, 97; returns from his plantation, 
133; wishes to sell the Mississippi 
plantation, 1843, 174; to Mrs. Polk, 
Oct. 26, 1843, 175; paying off debts, 
176; buying slaves, 177; drafts on his 
factors, 228; finances in 1844, 228. 

Polk, Marshall T., on transfer of slaves 
to avoid dividing the family, 197. 

Polk, Mrs. Sarah C., sells her Mississippi 
plantation, 46, 268, 275; owner of the 
Mississippi plantation, 176; visit to 
the plantation, 181; succeeds Polk, 228; 
ill luck with her cotton, 237, 239; sup- 
plies for her plantation, 250, n. 1. 

Polk, Samuel, 36. 

Polk, Wm. H., 58, 61; buys half of Cald- 
well’s share of the plantation, 100; his 
capacity, 101; to Polk, Dec. 17, 1836, 
102; George Moore’s opinion of, 103; 
as supervisor of the Mississippi planta- 
tion, 105, 110; to Polk, May 13, 1837, 
106; to Polk, Dec. 2, 1837, 106; sells 
his share, 114; to J. K. Polk, Oct. 28, 
1839, 127; inquires for runaway, 131; 
to J. K. Polk, Dec. 30, 1839, 131; to 
J. K. Polk, Dec. 4, 1840, 132. 


Poor whites, social relations with the 
planters, 169. 
Preaching to the slaves, 13-15. 


“Remarks on the Market,” 232. 
Reserves, 46. 
Runaway slaves, 263. 


Shawnee Town, 78, 80. 

Slavery, 86; and the negro problem, 264- 

Slaves, their attitude towards overseers, 
3, 8; routine life of, 12; religious in- 
struction, 13-15; punishment of, 15-17; 
marriage of, 17; divorce of, 173; run- 
aways, 18; influence of slave women, 
20; taught by slavery, 21; rules on 
Weston’s plantation, 23-32; “Lists,” 25; 
tickets of leave, 25; allowances to, 25- 
27; tasks and labor of, 27; holidays, 
27; sickness of, 28; division of families 
of, 197; dwellings of, 261; not dimin- 
ished by overwork, 265; clothing of, 
268; no deaths from overwork, 265; 
supplies for, 269; weaving by, 271; 
custom of hiring, 272; on non-resident 
plantations, 273. 

Supplies for Mrs. Polk’s plantation, 250, 
PYG yay is 


Trade in the South, 223. 


Virginia planters and London merchants, 
221-223. 


Walker, James, 36, 50, 52, 61, 63, 65; to 
Polk, March 18, 1836, 96; to Polk, 
Dec. 30, 1839, 133. 

Washington, George, 7, 19. 

Weston, Plowden C. J., 23-24. 

Whatley, Jesse, 33, 34. 


Yell, Archibald, 103, 134, and 134, n. I. 


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